Ever started worrying after swallowing gum and fearing it might remain in your stomach forever? Well, guess what? Most of this knowledge was implanted in us as kids to trick us into doing something or stop us from doing it. Alas, some people carry such myths their whole lives and share them with others, continuing this vicious cycle.
In the golden age of misinformation, it’s more important than ever to separate fact from fiction as it can divide, confuse people and even cause danger to health.
#22
That cracking your knuckles will result in arthritis. Total b******t.
91points
#23
The idea that you should drink at least eight glasses of water a day to stay hydrated. I mean, come on, it's just not backed by science. Drink enough to be hydrated but 8 glasses is not magic.
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82points
#24
The myth that Polygraphs, aka lie detectors, are accurate. Actual scientific assessments of the accuracy of polygraphs consistently shows little to no evidence that they are accurate despite their prevalence in use by law enforcement agencies for investigations and for security clearances. It can result in a lot of false positives, for example, of people being nervous about questioning and their physical stress being picked up as a lie by the person “analyzing” the output. (I’m using air quotes here since it’s one of those things where the analysis is more subjective than objective so is prone to human bias.)
81points
#25
Breakfast is the most important part of the day! This was nothing but a slogan created by Kellogg’s in the early 19th century!
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77points
#27
Carrots improve your night vision.
This myth was created by the British Ministry of Defense in WWII. The British had a major technological advantage over the Germans: ground to air radar. This allowed the Brits to scramble fighters at night to intercept German bombers at an unprecedented rate during the Blitz. To hide this, the MOD invented the myth and circulated a bunch of b******t stories about how they feed their pilots a bunch of carrots and supplements made of carrot vitamins, which allowed the fighter pilots to see the german formations better.
Carrots are good for you, but they don't do s**t for your eyes.
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73points
#29
That working out will be the key to losing the pounds. Weight loss happens in the kitchen. Exercise helps somewhat but will do nothing if caloric intake isn't reduced.
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60points
#30
That NASA paid millions for a pen that would write in space.
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56points