More Myths Debunked

When a person is livid, they are ashen (pale) not red.

Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize, not for his theory of relativity, but for his less well known work on the photoelectric effect of light.

Most black bears are black, but they also come in white, brown, cinnamon, and blue, depending on where in the world they are found.

Julius Caesar didn’t really say, “You too, Brutus?” when he was assassinated. This is a quote from Shakespeare, written 1,600 years after Caesar’s death. According to Roman historians, the real quote is, “Kai su, teknon?” (“You too, child?”). By “child,” he was referring to Brutus. So paraphrased, his last words were, “You too, Brutus?”

US ship captains may not perform weddings on board unless they are a priest, rabbi, minister, etc.

Black boxes in planes are not black, they are orange. This is to help investigators locate it by sight, if necessary after a crash. The name was chosen entirely for humor reasons.

The glow surrounding the head of a saint in religious imagery is more technically known as a nimbus or gloriole.

 

Nine More Myths Debunked

Toilet seats are full of germs.
It is one of the most commons misconceptions that the seats of a toilet are full of germs. A study conducted by the University of Arizona found them to be relatively clean, because they are often disinfected or washed. In fact, they were found to have ten times fewer germs than cell phones.

Alcohol warms you up.
It feels good to have a sip of whisky on a cold day, but that burning sensation is not some kind of interior warmth. In fact, alcohol dilates blood vessels, causing blood to be pumped closer to the skin, leading to a drop in your core body heat. If you are cold, reach for a blanket, not a flask.

Caffeine dehydrates you.
Drinking coffee makes you dehydrated is another myth. While caffeinated drinks do have a slight diuretic effect, researchers have not found any increased risk of dehydration in coffee drinkers compared to non-drinkers.

Coffee comes from beans.
Coffee comes from the pit inside the coffee fruit. They are actually coffee seeds.

Penguins mate for life.
It is true that penguins are monogamous, but they do not stay that way for life. Many change partners from one season to the next.

Baseball was invented in Cooperstown.
That history is an invention, cooked up in 1907 by a committee charged with figuring out the origins of baseball. They gave the credit to Abner Doubleday, a Civil War hero who allegedly invented the game in Cooperstown, NY in 1839. Doubleday was still at West Point in 1839, and he never claimed to have anything to do with baseball. Variations on baseball have been around since the 18th century, from children’s games like rounders to cricket. Baseball as we know it today was the brainchild of New Yorker Alexander Joy Cartwright, a volunteer firefighter and bank clerk who codified a new set of rules, such as the three-strike rules, a diamond-shaped infield, and the foul lines. He also abolished the dangerous practice of tagging runners by throwing balls at them.

French Poodles are French.
The French Poodle is widely believed to have first been bred in Germany, not France. In fact, the word “poodle” comes from the German word Pudelhund, a combination of words meaning “dog” and “to splash.”

Hawaiian pizza comes from Hawaii.
Hawaiian pizza actually originated in Ontario, Canada, when Satellite Restaurant owner and Greek immigrant Sam Panopoulos returned from Detroit, MI having sampled what was then a novelty for Canadians: pizza. He decided to try out pineapple on pizza during 1962 to attract customers to one of his Ontario-based restaurants. He named it Hawaiian pizza after the brand of canned pineapple used on the pie. Incidentally, about 17 percent of all American restaurants are pizzerias, and pineapple is a fruit, just like tomatoes.

Polar Bears have white skin and fur.
That white fur polar bears have is actually two layers of clear fur that appear white to the human eye. Underneath that coat, their skin is actually black.

More Myths Debunked

Water-induced wrinkles are not caused by the skin absorbing water and swelling. They are caused by the autonomic nervous system, which triggers localized vasoconstriction in response to wet skin, yielding a wrinkled appearance. This was theorized to have evolved to give ancestral primates a better grip in slippery, wet environments, but a 2014 study showed no improvement in handling wet objects with wrinkled fingertips.

Hair care products cannot actually repair split ends and damaged hair. They can prevent damage from occurring in the first place, and they can also smooth down the cuticle in a glue-like fashion so that it appears repaired, and generally make hair appear in better condition.

Eight glasses or two to three liters of water a day are not needed to maintain health. The amount of water needed varies by person including weight, activity level, clothing, and environment (heat and humidity). Also, water actually need not be drunk in pure form, but can be derived from liquids such as juices, tea, milk, soups, etc., and from foods, including fruits and vegetables.
Sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children. Double-blind trials have shown no difference in behavior between children given sugar-full or sugar-free diets, even in studies specifically looking at children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or those considered sensitive to sugar.
A vegetarian or vegan diet cannot provide enough protein for adequate nutrition. Typical protein intakes of ovo-lacto vegetarians and vegans meet and exceed requirements. However, a vegan diet does require supplementation of vitamin B12 for optimal health.
There is little evidence that obesity is related to slower resting metabolism. Resting metabolic rate does not vary much between people. Weight gain and loss are directly attributable to diet and activity.

Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. Many of the studies about the benefits of breakfast were funded by Kellogg's, and showed correlation, not causation.