The advent of Social Media has helped humanity in more ways than we can count and one of them is decentralizing media. These days anyone with an internet connection can reach thousands of people. However, the flip side is that it has become so much more difficult to tell facts from Myths because the sources of our information are much less reliable than they were in the olden days.
Our Facebook and Twitter Feeds are filled so many 'facts' simply shared by gullible friends in most cases and sometimes created by those mischievous people in our circles.
This post tries to call out 10 such myths that have been popular on social media or otherwise. So lets start Myth busting -
1. There are more people alive today than have ever died.
Humans have been here for more than 5 million years and even if we were to consider just the modern humans, we have been around for more than 200, 000 years. Even modest estimates of all humans that ever lived is about 100 billion.
2. Bulls hate red color.
What makes this myth interesting is the fact that bulls are actually color blind. The bulls in Bull Fighting are naturally aggressive (only the aggressive ones are chosen), are physically tortured before the fight begins and flapping cape is quite irritating for bulls. It is for these reasons that bulls get aggressive in bull fighting and not because of a red colored cape.
3. Blood is blue until it touches air.
This doesn't even deserve an explanation. Blood is always red.
4. Gum takes seven years to pass through your body.
This myth probably originated to keep kids from swallowing gums. The fact though is that gums are mostly digestible like every other food and pass through the body in a normal amount of time.
5. The "Taste map" on your tongue.
This one is particularly interesting because it has been part of science text books across the globe a couple decades ago. It claims that certain parts of the tongue are responsible for certain tastes (Ex: the tip of the tongue for tasting sweet). However, it was later proven that all parts of the tongue are capable of sensing all tastes albeit with different sensitivity.
6. That cracking your knuckles causes arthritis.
It was never proven so.
7. Your ring Finger is the only finger with a vein that connects to the heart.
So, where do the Remaining Fingers get their blood from? Probably those who do this propaganda have another blood pumping organ in their body the remaining fingers are connected to. This myth sounds romantic though.
8. Men think about sex every seven seconds.
Its amazing that there are people who believe this and even worse, there are men who believe this. Sure men are sex maniacs (kidding!) but seven seconds? Really? I believe even once every seven hours would be an exaggeration.
9. Humans use only 10% of their brain.
Unfortunately this is not just a random myth but false propaganda by companies trying to sell some brain-boosters. Next time someone uses this 'fact', its time to ask for some scientific evidence. While it is true that we don't use all of our brain at any given time, we do use 100% of our brains over the course of a few waking hours.
10. God exists.
Yes, it is one of the biggest myths ever. May be God exists, but there is no evidence and hence a myth.
A general advice would be to take anything you find on the internet with a grain of salt (including this blog). Be skeptical. Always look for the author's / organisation's credibility before believing in what they say. A simple rule of thumb would be to not believe anything apart from cat videos that appear on Facebook / Twitter feeds without due research.
Do you know any such popular myths? Please let us know in the comments.
Our Facebook and Twitter Feeds are filled so many 'facts' simply shared by gullible friends in most cases and sometimes created by those mischievous people in our circles.
This post tries to call out 10 such myths that have been popular on social media or otherwise. So lets start Myth busting -
1. There are more people alive today than have ever died.
Humans have been here for more than 5 million years and even if we were to consider just the modern humans, we have been around for more than 200, 000 years. Even modest estimates of all humans that ever lived is about 100 billion.
2. Bulls hate red color.
What makes this myth interesting is the fact that bulls are actually color blind. The bulls in Bull Fighting are naturally aggressive (only the aggressive ones are chosen), are physically tortured before the fight begins and flapping cape is quite irritating for bulls. It is for these reasons that bulls get aggressive in bull fighting and not because of a red colored cape.
3. Blood is blue until it touches air.
This doesn't even deserve an explanation. Blood is always red.
4. Gum takes seven years to pass through your body.
This myth probably originated to keep kids from swallowing gums. The fact though is that gums are mostly digestible like every other food and pass through the body in a normal amount of time.
5. The "Taste map" on your tongue.
This one is particularly interesting because it has been part of science text books across the globe a couple decades ago. It claims that certain parts of the tongue are responsible for certain tastes (Ex: the tip of the tongue for tasting sweet). However, it was later proven that all parts of the tongue are capable of sensing all tastes albeit with different sensitivity.
6. That cracking your knuckles causes arthritis.
It was never proven so.
7. Your ring Finger is the only finger with a vein that connects to the heart.
So, where do the Remaining Fingers get their blood from? Probably those who do this propaganda have another blood pumping organ in their body the remaining fingers are connected to. This myth sounds romantic though.
8. Men think about sex every seven seconds.
Its amazing that there are people who believe this and even worse, there are men who believe this. Sure men are sex maniacs (kidding!) but seven seconds? Really? I believe even once every seven hours would be an exaggeration.
9. Humans use only 10% of their brain.
Unfortunately this is not just a random myth but false propaganda by companies trying to sell some brain-boosters. Next time someone uses this 'fact', its time to ask for some scientific evidence. While it is true that we don't use all of our brain at any given time, we do use 100% of our brains over the course of a few waking hours.
10. God exists.
Yes, it is one of the biggest myths ever. May be God exists, but there is no evidence and hence a myth.
A general advice would be to take anything you find on the internet with a grain of salt (including this blog). Be skeptical. Always look for the author's / organisation's credibility before believing in what they say. A simple rule of thumb would be to not believe anything apart from cat videos that appear on Facebook / Twitter feeds without due research.
Do you know any such popular myths? Please let us know in the comments.
