For generations, humanity has been burdened with thousands of beliefs, many of which we consider true. We continue to believe most of them simply because our parents, their parents, and then their parents did so for centuries, without questioning or reflecting on the reasons for their beliefs. We are so attached to certain facts that we continue to believe them even after science has proven them false. This is extremely frustrating, especially for those who knew the true nature of these so-called facts. In the following list, we have compiled 10 such facts that we believe despite knowing they are untrue.
1. If you touch a chick, the mother bird will not return and will abandon her chicks.
This isn't true, as birds have a very limited sense of smell and therefore don't sense human touch. They are very attached to their young, and the slightest interference certainly won't stop them from caring for their young. This myth actually works both ways. First, birds carry ticks and fleas, so you shouldn't touch them. Second, chicks are very sensitive, so they can become ill if you touch them. Ornithologists put it this way: you definitely shouldn't remove a chick from the nest. However, if a chick is in real danger on the ground, it can be safely placed in a safer location. Don't try to act immediately, as chicks spend several weeks on the ground before they learn to fly. During this period, mother birds are always nearby to help them. Interfering with a bird's nest should be avoided whenever possible, as chicks are perfectly healthy when left alone. Birds often discard sick chicks to focus on their healthier offspring. Before returning a chick to the nest, ensure it was dropped accidentally and not discarded by the parents. Furthermore, touching the chick can attract other predators, which may attack it. This myth is also created to discourage people from touching chicks and eggs, as many birds even abandon their nests permanently after seeing their eggs disturbed. For most, this is a sign of the presence of an intruder or predator near the nest. (source)
2. The idea that you need to wait at least 24 hours to file a missing person report with the police is incorrect.
A missing person report can be filed immediately if there is genuine concern for the safety of the missing person whose whereabouts are unknown. A missing person report can also be filed with police in another district if the complainant believes the person is missing elsewhere. The reason why reports are not filed immediately is to avoid overburdening the police with unnecessary searches. Therefore, they wait at least a day or two to ensure the case is serious enough. However, in most cases, the victim dies, as most homicides occur within hours of the actual abduction. (source)
3. Cracking your fingers can lead to arthritis.
According to traditional belief, cracking knuckles, especially finger joints, can cause osteoarthritis. It can even lead to long-term joint problems. The medical community has not yet been able to definitively prove a link between knuckle cracking and joint problems. However, people who constantly crack their knuckles often experience swelling in their hands and decreased grip strength. The habit of cracking knuckles is associated with physical labor, nail biting, smoking, and alcohol consumption, and is believed to cause functional impairment of the hand.
Joint cracking occurs due to the sudden partial collapse of carbon dioxide bubbles formed by cavitation. Joint cracking often evokes a feeling of relaxation and satisfaction in people. This technique is also regularly used by physical therapists, chiropractors, and osteopaths. For decades, the physical mechanism that causes the cracking sound when twisting, bending, or squeezing joints remained unknown. Some medical theories point to cavitation within the joints as the cause of the cracking. Cavitation is the formation of small cavities of partial vacuum in the synovial fluid. When these cavities collapse, a sound is produced. (source)
4. Waking up a sleepwalker would plunge him into such a state of panic and shock that it could lead to death.
No, this is not true for one simple reason: it won't kill them or anyone waking them. It's just a bit difficult to wake them in this sleep state. The best thing to do if you see a sleepwalker walking down a dangerous path is to simply turn them around and send them back to bed. Waking them up can disorient them, which will distract them. Gently sending them back to bed will prevent them from causing harm. They will remain in a deep sleep and won't remember anything in the morning. "Somnambulism," or sleepwalking, is not a mental disorder. It's a common phenomenon. In the United States, approximately 1–15% of the population suffers from sleepwalking, and almost all children have experienced episodes of sleepwalking. However, sometimes sleepwalking leads to dangerous situations, although such cases are rare. In 1996, in Kentucky, USA, a 16-year-old girl killed her father and younger brother while dreaming that her house was being burglarized by aggressive intruders. There is a difference between sleepwalking and sleepwalking disorder. The former is harmless, while the latter requires medical treatment. (source)
5. The blood in the veins is blue before oxidation.
Blood is always red, even if it changes color from dark red to light red. Oxygen-rich blood, which flows through arteries from the heart to the lungs and then to the rest of the body, is bright red. From the arteries, it flows through tiny blood vessels called capillaries and delivers oxygen to the body's tissues, becoming dark red. Veins appear blue because light must penetrate the skin to illuminate them. Blue and red light have different wavelengths, and both penetrate the skin with varying degrees of success. What reaches our eyes is blue light. (source)
6. Daddy longlegs spiders are the most venomous spiders in the world, but their fangs cannot pierce skin.
Harvestmen are not venomous and are not spiders; they lack fangs. Harvestmen, "daddy longlegs," or "harvestmen spiders" are the colloquial name for a group of arachnids. (Opiliones) . They are also called "shepherd's spiders" because their long legs resemble those of European shepherds, most of whom used stilts to better observe their wandering flocks from afar. They are called "harvestmen" because they are incredibly common in the fall, during harvest season. Up to 6,650 species of this order have been identified worldwide. They are not spiders because a spider's body consists of two parts—the cephalothorax and the abdomen. The harvestman's body, however, is a single piece consisting of the head, thorax, and abdomen, fused together. Secondly, while spiders have eight eyes, harvestmen have only two. (source)
7. After shaving or epilation, hair becomes noticeably thicker.
This belief is incorrect, according to science. There's no evidence yet that cutting, shaving, or waxing causes thicker hair growth. The human hair shaft is like a pencil, tapering toward the end. Therefore, when we cut, shave, or wax, it appears that the remaining hair or subsequent stubble becomes thicker or darker than before. In reality, hair growth is influenced by various other factors, such as hormonal changes or imbalances, environment, and genetics. Exposure to pollutants, chemicals, and the sun also changes our hair color, but this change occurs from dark to light, not the other way around. Furthermore, such changes are very subtle and barely noticeable. (source)
8. You can catch pneumonia or a cold by going out into the cold with wet hair.
The common cold is caused by a rhinovirus, while pneumonia is a bacterial lung infection, neither of which is directly related to the common cold or a wet head. True, the cold virus thrives in cold weather or at low temperatures, but to become infected, you must come into contact with an infectious agent. Simply going outside with a wet head won't infect you, although it will certainly cause discomfort and anxiety. Furthermore, very cold weather is a stress factor for the body and can cause hypothermia, which can affect the immune system. In fact, this myth is partially true, as there is a link between the common cold and the common cold. In the late 1970s, some British researchers hypothesized that "cold air entering the nasal passages increases the likelihood of infection by weakening the local immune response."« (1,2).
9. Emergency contraception and abortion pills are the same thing.
The emergency contraceptive pill, or "post-coital pill," is a pill women can take to prevent pregnancy after unprotected vaginal intercourse. Emergency contraception works by stopping or delaying ovulation in women. This means these pills prevent the release of eggs so they cannot be fertilized by a man's sperm. Abortion is the termination of pregnancy. It is a medical procedure performed on pregnant women to prevent the birth of a child. There are two types of abortion: medical and surgical. Medical abortion involves taking pills for up to 10 weeks, from 10 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. Thus, these pills are different because their purposes are different. However, some people consider taking the emergency contraceptive pill equivalent to a chemical abortion, believing that life begins at the moment of fertilization, which is medically incorrect. (1, 2)
10. Email addresses are case sensitive.
No, email addresses are different. An email address typically consists of two parts separated by the @ sign: the username, followed by the domain name and the top-level domain of the email account. While the domain name in an email address is case-insensitive, the local part, which contains the username, is case-sensitive. However, it's always best to create a new email address with lowercase characters. If someone gives you an email address with a different case, keep it. RFC 5321, the standard that governs mail transmission, addresses the issue of case sensitivity in email addresses this way: "The local part of a mailbox MUST be treated as case-sensitive. Therefore, an SMTP implementation MUST honor the case of local parts of a mailbox.". (source)