63 Times People Were So Confident, Only To Be Embarrassingly Wrong (New Pics)

We humans are curious by nature, which means we spend our lives reading, watching, listening to, and learning all kinds of things. And our brains are pretty remarkable when it comes to storing information. The human brain contains an enormous network of neurons and synapses, with estimates suggesting that the cerebral cortex alone contains around 125 trillion synapses. One often-cited study has estimated that a single synapse may store roughly 4.7 bits of information, which gives us some idea of just how much information the brain could potentially handle. But, as impressive as our memory might be, there’s one small problem: just because we remember something doesn’t automatically mean that it’s true.

In fact, many of the “facts” we hear throughout our lives turn out to be myths that have simply been repeated so often that nobody thinks to question them. Take the phrase, “Lightning never strikes the same place twice,” for example. It’s often used to reassure someone that an unlikely bad event probably won’t happen again. After all, what are the chances? But lightning can absolutely strike the same place more than once—sometimes repeatedly. Tall structures, such as skyscrapers and radio towers, are particularly likely to be struck multiple times because of their height and location. So, unfortunately, lightning has no rule against repeat visits.

Then there’s the classic shark myth. If you’ve ever gone swimming in the ocean, you may have heard someone say that sharks can smell a single drop of blood from miles away and will immediately come racing toward it. Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Sharks have an impressive sense of smell, but they can't magically detect one tiny drop of blood across an entire ocean. Water currents have to carry the scent to them, and several other factors affect whether they detect it at all. 

William McKeever’s book Emperors of the Deep: Sharks—The Ocean's Most Mysterious, Misunderstood, and Important Guardians also helps challenge the image of sharks as mindless killers, highlighting their important role in maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems by removing sick and weak animals.

And what about bulls and the color red? We’ve all seen the famous image of a matador waving a bright red cape and may have been warned that wearing red around a bull is a terrible idea. In reality, bulls aren't specifically enraged by the color red. They respond primarily to the movement of the cape, which is why the matador's dramatic waving gets their attention. The red cloth, known as a muleta, is largely used because of tradition and the visual drama it creates for human spectators. It can also help mask bloodstains during the final stages of a traditional bullfight. So, if you were planning to wear a red shirt, you can relax—the bull isn't offended by your fashion choices.

Food has inspired plenty of strange myths, too. One of the most famous is the idea that swallowed chewing gum stays in your stomach for seven years. Thankfully, that’s not how our digestive system works. As Duke gastroenterologist Nancy McGreal, MD, explains, “The gum base is insoluble, just like the fiber base of raw vegetables, corn, popcorn kernels, and seeds.” She adds that our bodies do not have digestive enzymes specifically designed to break down gum base. But that doesn’t mean it sticks to your stomach or intestinal walls for years. In most cases, swallowed gum simply travels through the digestive tract along with other food and is eventually excreted in stool. So while it might cling stubbornly to the bottom of your shoe, your body isn't keeping it around for a seven-year stay.

The animal kingdom is also full of facts that people often get wrong. Goldfish, for example, can remember things for far longer than three seconds and are capable of learning and responding to their environment. Chameleons don't simply change color to blend into every background they encounter; they also change color to communicate, respond to temperature, and interact with other chameleons. And earthworms may not have ears or traditional eyes like we do, but that doesn't mean they're completely unaware of their surroundings. They can detect vibrations and use light-sensitive cells in their skin to sense changes in their environment.