We live in a world where it's very easy to spread false information, which, when repeated over and over again, becomes a generally accepted "fact," although in reality it's merely a "factoid." Several myths, such as the goldfish's memory span of only three seconds (in reality, they can retain information for a year), or the myth of Pandora's Box (not a "box," but actually a "large storage vessel"), have already been debunked. Yet we continue to blindly accept certain myths as facts, which we've supposedly been told but which, in fact, aren't.
Here's a list of facts we've been told are true but aren't, and which are interesting to learn more about.
1. To extend battery life, there is no need to completely discharge your mobile phone or laptop battery before charging.
Many tech websites tout the benefits of reducing the number of charge cycles and completely discharging a smartphone before recharging it to increase battery life. This is untrue. In fact, lithium-ion batteries are most efficient when used very sparingly and charged before the battery reaches zero.
When a battery is completely discharged, it's likely that it won't charge to the same level it did before. This issue has been addressed in newer models, but it still persists in older models. An electronics engineer at a leading smartphone manufacturer said, "These batteries tend to 'forget' their full capacity, so when recharged, they don't charge to the same level they did when they started.".
Furthermore, new phones use more advanced technology, making it completely safe to leave your smartphone charging overnight. The battery will automatically stop charging once it reaches 100%, and this won't damage it. (source)
2. The idea that touching frogs can cause warts is a myth. No amphibian secretes wart-causing substances from glands in its skin, so you won't get warts from touching them.
No, frogs don't cause warts. This myth is believed to have arisen from the belief that touching the frog's bumpy skin will cause you to develop the same bumps. No amphibians secrete substances from glands in their skin that could cause warts in humans. This has been proven by scientists.
Warts are caused by viruses that fall under the general category of human papillomaviruses (HPV). There are approximately 150 different types of HPV viruses that cause growths in human cells, warts being one of them. However, this doesn't mean touching frogs is completely safe. Caution should be exercised when handling toads, even if they look pretty, as they are known to secrete toxic substances. A single golden poison frog is known to contain enough poison to kill ten adult men and is one of the most venomous creatures on Earth today. Furthermore, if you are allergic to any substances present on frog skin, you may experience an adverse reaction. (source)
3. It's a myth that bumblebees can only fly at very low altitudes. Two bees were able to fly to an altitude of 29,525 feet. They are capable of flying at altitudes higher than Mount Everest.
It's a misconception that bumblebees are only seen flying at low altitudes, unlike birds, which can soar very high in the sky. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered that alpine bumblebees can fly at altitudes comparable to Mount Everest. In an experiment, they created low-density, low-air-load conditions to test the bumblebees' flight limits and found that they can survive even at high altitudes. They began flapping their wings at a greater angle to inhale more air to sustain flight.
A team of researchers traveled to a mountain range in China located at an altitude of 10,660 feet and collected six male bumblebees of the species Bombus impetuosus. This species differs little from marine-level inhabitants, but is considered alpine. These bumblebees were used in an experiment at the University of California.
The experiment concluded that bumblebees are usually found at low altitudes not because they are unable to fly at high altitudes, but because they are looking for flower nectar or other similar factors to establish a colony. (source)
4. The claim that Columbus set out to prove the Earth is round is false. By the 15th century, everyone already knew the Earth wasn't flat. This fact was discovered in 600 AD, almost a thousand years before his birth.
We've heard stories about the Italian explorer Columbus setting foot on uncharted land and setting out to prove that the Earth is not flat, but round. However, only the setting foot on uncharted land part of this story is true. Columbus first discovered what is now known as America in 1492 AD. The very first observations by astronomers and scientists confirming the Earth's roundness were made as early as 600 AD. Thus, for almost a thousand years, everyone believed that the Earth was not flat.
The legend of Columbus says that, against the wishes of Spanish officials, he sailed west instead of east, believing the Earth was round. However, wealthy Spaniards feared he would fall off the edge of the Earth. In Columbus's time, ancient knowledge was carefully studied, and people were educated. It's impossible for the Spaniards not to have known this.
This legend was invented in 1828 when Washington Irving published a book «The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, in which the author added some fictional elements to the biography of Columbus. (source)
5. Narwhals are not mythical creatures. They are, in fact, a very real species of whale that inhabits Arctic waters.
In the Middle Ages, Europeans believed that narwhal tusks were the horns of unicorns and possessed magical properties. Numerous similar legends have grown up around narwhals, leading people to believe they don't exist, but are figments of the imagination, like dragons and unicorns. But they are real. Narwhals are a species of whale that inhabit the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia.
These are medium-sized whales with a large front tusk, weighing between 800 and 1,600 kilograms as adults. Although their natural habitat is icy waters, they can suffocate when sea ice freezes. The average lifespan of a narwhal is 50 years.
People believed narwhals didn't exist because they were the subject of numerous mythical stories. The Arctic Inuit believe in folklore about a cruel woman who was thrown into the sea after her son tied a rope to her waist to force her to hunt a whale. This cruel woman, according to the Inuit, turned into a narwhal. Narwhals are also mentioned in Jules Verne's novel "The Witcher."« Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", Where Captain Nemo's submarine was attacked by a narwhal, and Ned Land, a character who had harpooned many whales, refused to believe it. We still don't know the function of the narwhal tusk, and it continues to arouse human curiosity. (source)
6. It is a common misconception that the phases of the Moon are caused by the Earth's shadow. In fact, the Moon's phases are the result of its own shadow, with only part of its surface illuminated at a time, just like on Earth.
A common misconception is that the phases of the Moon are caused by the Earth's shadow. The Earth's shadow on the Moon is only visible during a lunar eclipse. The Moon's phases are a result of its own shadow. At any given moment, only part of the Moon's surface is illuminated. When the illuminated side faces the Earth, we see a full Moon, and when the dark side faces the Earth, the Moon is invisible. The same applies to all other phases of the Moon.
Like Earth, the Moon also reflects sunlight. The Moon orbits Earth, and it is this rotation and its 27-day cycle that alters its appearance when observed from Earth. We don't see the Moon's rotation from Earth due to a phenomenon scientists call "synchronous rotation.".
The myth that the moon's phases are the result of the Earth's shadow arose in ancient times, when people didn't understand the cause of these phases and invented stories to explain what they saw. Because the moon's phase myth is easier to understand than the lesser-known fact, it has stood the test of time and persisted into the 21st century. (source)
7. Camels don't store water in their humps. In fact, their humps are used to store fat, which sustains them during times of food shortage.
Camels, these desert animals, are known for their ability to go weeks without food or water. Many believe they store water in their humps, but in reality, their humps are a source of energy, thanks to their fatty tissue, which allows them to go long periods without food. When food becomes scarce, their humps deflate and sag as the stored fat is used up. Once food is available, the humps regain their shape.
Another important feature of the hump is its ability to regulate body temperature, as desert temperatures can be extreme. Concentrated fatty tissue in the hump minimizes thermal insulation for the rest of the body during the day, and at night, the heat dissipates, helping the animal combat the cold.
If anything helped them retain more water, it wasn't their humps, but their blood cells. Their unique oval-shaped blood cells allow them to hold large amounts of water—up to 30 gallons at a time. (source)
8. If you sleep with wet hair, you won't catch a cold. Colds are caused by a virus, not a "low temperature.".
Low temperatures themselves don't cause colds, although at extremely low temperatures they can lead to hypothermia. The theory that you can catch a cold from sleeping with wet hair originated during World War I, when scientists hypothesized that soldiers sleeping in cold trenches were more likely to catch colds than those sleeping in dry places. Secondly, as early as the first century, Celsus wrote that winter brings colds, headaches, and coughs. But as science progressed, we learned that this isn't entirely true.
Colds are caused by upper respiratory tract infections, and only by viruses. Rhinovirus, which causes colds, can be caught anywhere and from anything. While rhinoviruses do thrive in cold temperatures, to develop a cold, you need to be infected with it, and that doesn't happen simply from wet hair. Colds can be caught in both dry and hot places. There is no medical evidence to support a direct link between wet hair and colds. (source)
9. We , Humans use more than just 10% of our brains, and it's a fact that if we could harness the rest, we would gain god-like superpowers. This is folklore, not science.
An urban legend with no basis in fact, the "10% myth" has been falsely attributed to many people, including Albert Einstein. Neurologists claim that we use each part of our brain for different functions. Neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein has presented seven pieces of evidence to refute the myth that we only use 10% of our brain throughout our lives. In one of them, he argues that if only 10% of the brain were used, damage to any part of it should not impair a person's abilities. But we see that damage to any part of the brain directly impacts our abilities.
Decades of research and brain mapping have failed to detect a single dysfunctional region. Furthermore, if 90% cells were not functioning properly, scientists would have detected it using microstructural analysis, which involves inserting a tiny electrode into the brain to monitor the function of each cell.
The brain uses 20% of all the energy the body needs. If it only used the claimed 10%, the human body would not be able to produce the remaining 90%, which would lead to seizures or collapse. The idea of using only the brain's 10% became popular after Dale Carnegie's book «How to Win Friends and Influence People» A falsely accurate percentage was added to the latent mental capacity, which reinforced the scientist's claim made in an earlier case in the 1890s, where he said that people realize only a small part of their full mental potential. (source)
10. Contrary to popular belief, thunder is not the sound of clouds colliding. Clouds cannot collide with each other because they are not solid objects.
Most of us were told this story as children, and some of us continue to believe it into adulthood. The sound of thunder isn't caused by two clouds colliding, as clouds aren't solid. In fact, we hear thunder because the air around the lightning is heated.
When lightning strikes, it falls from the clouds to the ground and vice versa. The second discharge, or return discharge, causes a sharp increase in the ambient air temperature to 27,000°C. The heated air around the vertical channel created by the lightning is compressed and increases to 10-100 times normal atmospheric pressure, causing an explosion. The explosion creates several shock waves of compressed particles in all directions and produces a loud noise.
We first hear shock waves near the ground, then in the sky. Typically, several lightning strikes occur within a small area. The shock waves generated by each strike reflect off each other, causing a constant hum. (source)