Music

Some stories that passed on from generation to generation are not true, and it seems like some myths won’t disappear any time soon. Thanks to modern science, we are one step closer to the truth behind those old stories. Here is the list of some myths that modern science proved them wrong.

1. Listening to Mozart Will Make You (Or Your Baby) Smarter

This myth is known as the “Mozart Effect” and has been made by the psychologist Frances Rauscher. His study showed that kids function better in certain tasks that require spatial and abstract thinking while listening to Mozart. Because of this study companies start selling Baby Mozart CDs for pregnant women.

But is it really true? After countless studies, we found out that listening to music in general lead to temporary improvement in cognitive ability and abstract thinking. So, Mozart is not particularly special, all the music and even narrated books seems to give that temporary improvement.

2. Chameleons Change Color to Camouflage Themselves

Thanks to animated and edited videos, many people thinks that chameleons can blend into everything they intact from trees to chessboards. Chameleons naturally blend into their environment often match their colors to tree or leaves.

Surprisingly they have the ability, most of the time, to not just camouflage, but to stand out. During the mating season chameleons can be very aggressive and their body color changes to communicate with mates or competitors. Another theory that came out recently is that they even use their color change ability to adjust their own body temperature.

3. Human Blood Can Be Blue

The blood that flow through our vines under the skin seems to be blue, but that is a result of optical illusion. When light hit our skin, blue light reflects back and gives the illusion that our blood is blue.

But eventually, human blood is red because of the presence of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin are cells that help carry and transport oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body and contain iron. That special natural iron turns red when it intact with oxygen and that is what makes our blood red.

4. Earth’s Proximity to the Sun Determines the Seasons

Many people studied in science classes, that the distance between the Earth and the sun determines the seasons every year. Many people believes that when the earth is close to the sun, summer arrives and when the earth is far from the sun, winter arrives and in between spring and autumn arrive.

Earth spin on axis and because of that it is tilted and different parts of the planet is more exposed to the sun’s direct rays throughout the year as the earth spin around the sun. For example, in Northern Hemisphere, as the Earth get closer to the sun, winter is coming and when the Earth get far from the sun, summer is coming.

5. It Takes Seven Years to Digest Gums

Chewing gum is one of the favorite candies that exist today. According to an article in the Guardian, a British news and media source, it can take years until a gum is fully digested. Is that true?
No!

It takes more time to digest gums because these are made of natural or synthetic polymer. But that doesn’t mean it will sit forever in our stomach, it will get out naturally after some time.

6. Camels Use Their Humps to Store Water

Many people believes that camels store water in their humps, but actually they store fat. They store fat in their humps as an emergency supply for long trips in the desert.

When the camel is hungry, they can absorb food from the hump till it is empty. The hump will get more and more droopy as it gets empty and will be refile by the next meal. Camels can drink 30 gallons of water and store in their bloodstream which allow them to survive more than a week without water.

7. The Great Wall of China is Visible From Space

One of the Seven Wonders of the World is the Great Wall of China. There is one funny but interesting myth, people thinks you can actually see the wall from space. This wall is an impressive structure which goes for almost 4,500 miles across China’s landscape. Although this magnificent wall is huge, we can’t see it from space.

According to astronauts who been in space, they could see the wall only in low level of the orbit and in certain weather condition. One of the reasons why they couldn’t watch it is because of the wall’s material and the color that blends with the landscapes that surrounds the wall.

8. The Tongue Has ‘Taste Bud Zones’

We learned in school that our tongue is responsible for all the tastes we sense and that it is divided into parts where each part meant to sense different kind of tastes like bitter, sweet, salty and sour. This theory was invented 100 years ago by Germany scientist named David Pauli Hanig. Surprisingly, this theory was made with bad taste.

Research shown impressive results, apparently some taste buds are actually found in unpredictable places such as the top of our mouths and in our throats. It’s still true that some of our taste buds are placed on the tongue and these are more sensitive to specific tastes. These taste buds filled with receptor cells which send information to our brains and analyze which taste we encountered.

9. We Only Use 10% of Our Brain

A very common science myth we all heard before – we use only 10% of the brain. Films that got inspired by this myth such as Limitless and Lucy, followed the question what if we could use more than the 10% of the brain and reach “our full potential”. Well, the myth proven to be wrong thanks to the modern science, and we now know that our brain is more active than we think.

As quoted from neurologist John Henley: “Evidence would show over a day you use 100 percent of the brain”. In fact, by using certain technology to scan the brain, scientists can see that the brain actually is in none stop action even while we are sleeping.

10. Rusty Nails Cause Tetanus

Many people believe that stepping or get injured by rusty nails will put you in high risk to get tetanus. Although, rusty nails and metal are usual a way to intact with tetanus, the infection it’s self has nothing to do with the rust. Bacteria named Clostridium tetani (C tetani) is the one that cause tetanus which infects the nervous system, causing severe muscle spasms and even death.

Actually what cause the tetanus is the ground pieces that surround the rusty nails which carry the bacteria and not the nail itself. Even small crack or scratch on the skin by the pieces can cause infection.

11. Ostriches Bury Their Heads in the Sand

When person who prefer to ignore their problems instead face them, we say as metaphor “they stuck their head like ostrich”. Usually according to the myth, ostrich will bury their head when they sense danger, but that’s not quite right.

Sometimes ostrich will lay it’s body on the floor in a position that can gives the illusion that he burry it’s head. The reason they do it is usually when they incubates on the eggs and use the peak to move the eggs which again give the illusion, they burry the head.

12. Diamonds Come From Coal

One of the weirdest science myths I ever encounter is that diamonds came from coal, which is incorrect. Coal was formed by rotten plant materials that marge together for decades.

Diamonds can be formed in many ways one of the majority ones is result of volcano eruptions.

13. Bats Are Blind

We all know the night flying mammals that look like mouse with wings, yup I am talking about the bats. Bats got an ongoing myth due movies that they are completely blind. This myth is wrong and in fact, there some bat species that actually possess good vision.

Majority of us learn in science class that bats are blind and use echolocation – ultrasonic sound waves that impact objects such as obstacles and food which help them fly and survive at night. But, species like Larg fuit-eting bats rely on their sharp vision to find food. Some studies show this specie have three times better vision than human’s vision.

14. “Lightning Never Strikes the Same Place Twice”

We all know the good old phrase “lightening never strikes the same place twice” to calm someone that the same bad thing won’t happen twice. Sadly, lighting can strike the same place twice.

Lightning is a very powerful electrical discharge made during a thunderstorm. According to many Scientist’s, reports show that sometimes those discharge can back up to the thundercloud and can create repetitive cycle of strikes. Those reports mean that indeed it can strike multi times. The well known Empire State Building for example, is getting struck almost 100 times a year.