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17 Things We Were Taught As Kids That Are Nonsense

August 21, 2021

We're not saying the education system in America isn't the greatest in the universe for all time, all we're saying is that maybe there is a problem when the only way to fund our schools is for the soulless monolith of Big Business to print their own textbooks saying we should all be chugging milk and eating bowl after bowl of corn flakes in order for our bodies not to snap in half at age 30 like a glowstick.

That out of the way, let's revisit some items we were taught as kids that aren't exactly accurate. You'll feel so much better having your knowledge base corrected, and maybe, just maybe, you can politely pass these tidbits on to others. Maybe skip your Uncle Crazy, though - if he's like our Uncle Crazy the old fool is not particularly open to having anything at all corrected, not even his vision. Eeep.

17

MYTH: TONGUES HAVE ZONES FOR BITTER, SALTY, SOUR, AND SWEET. 1 2 3 4 GRACKED.COM The famous taste map is an artistic interpretation of 120-year-old data showing which parts of the tongue are more sensitive to what taste. While taste buds do have a larger concentration on the outer edges of the tongue, they are not so rigidly segregated as to make up specific taste zones for different flavors. — Source: Center for Smell and Taste

16

Milk

2 MYTH: MILK BUILDS STRONG B BONES. CRACKED.COM This myth started when schools were provided nutritional material that boasted the importance of dairy in your diet, when studies cannot link milk consumption with healthy living and especially stronger bones. Who gave them this material? The National Dairy Council. — More: 6 Ridiculous Science Myths You Learned in Kindergarten

15

MYTH: CHAMELEONS CHANGE COLOR TO CAMOUFLAGE. CRACKED.com Unlike an octopus or cuttlefish that will use the ability to change color to hide from predators or sneak up on prey, the chameleon does not use this ability to blend into the environment. Chameleons instead use color changing to regulate their heat or to communicate to other chameleons. — Source: Wired

14

MYTH: CARBOHYDRATES SHOULD MAKE UP THE MAJORITY OF YOUR DIET. Fats Crist Sweets KEY USE SPARINGLY Gugars Hadded) title Your # MAIN Poutry FILL DIV BANG Choose Group Eggs Nuts Canon 20 SERVINGS 23 SERVINGS Vegatitate Group Fruit Group $4 SERVINGE SERVINGS Bread, Coreat SERVINGS CRACKEDO .COM We have lobbyists to blame for the 1992 USDA food pyramid we all remember from health class, which put carbs as the building blocks of a well balanced diet. USDA nutritionists called for 3-4 daily servings of whole-gra breads and cereals, but this was changed to a whopping 6-11. In 2005 the food — Source: NPR

13

MYTH: PLUTO IS NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET. CRACKED.com It's true that in 2006 the International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto's classification from a full-size planet based on it missing one qualification: it did not clear its neighboring region of other objects. It's still a planet, though, just a dwarf planet. — Source: Library of Congress

12

MYTH: WOMEN WERE BURNED AT THE STAKE DURING THE BE SALEM WITCH TRIALS. CRACKED.COM Many women were put to death as witches in Salem during the summer of 1692, but not by way of burning - that was the European way of carrying out an execution. In America, we did the sensible thing and hanged the accused. — Source: Washington Post

11

MYTH: BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY. was CRACKED.com To date, there are no conclusive studies that link morning eating with better health. Moralizing the act of consuming corn flakes in the morning is all thanks to anti-masturbation czar John Harvey Kellogg, who sold his upstanding cereal under the guise of being a more productive member of civilized society. — Source: The Guardian

10

2 MYTH: COLUMBUS DISCOVERED NORTH AMERICA CRACKED.COM Of course you can't discover a continent that has already been inhabited by people for thousands of years. Even if you adjust the claim to only include European travelers, that honor still goes to Norse explorer Leif Erikson, who landed in Newfoundland in 1000 A.D. — Source: NPR

9

MYTH: NEWTON DISCOVERED GRAVITY WHEN AN APPLE FELL ON HIS HEAD. CRACKED It was a falling apple that prompted Newton, as he tells it, to question what force brought the apple to Earth, as opposed to diagonally away from the tree or even straight up into the air. Newton never claimed the apple hit him and caused his eureka moment. — Source: BBC

8

2 MYTH: SCIENTISTS CANNOT EXPLAIN HOW BEES FLY. CRACKED.COM French scientists in the 1930's theorized that the wings of a bee were too small to grant it flight, but only because they presumed the wings were fixed like that of an airplane. We now know that insects, like birds and bats, can rotate their wings and create a vortex to lift them into the air. — Source: Scientific American

7

Einstein

2 MYTH: ALBERT EINSTEIN FAILED B MATH. CRACKED.CO Einstein did drop out of school at age 15, but not because he couldn't hack it; although he consistently aced his classes, he was frustrated by the mechanical discipline implemented by his teachers. Presented with the myth of his mathematical shortcomings, Einstein remarked that he had mastered differential and integral calculus'' by age 15. — Source: Washington Post

6

Shaving

2 MYTH: SHAVING MAKES HAIR GROW BACK THICKER. CRACKED.COM If shaving made your hair grow back faster and thicker, every teenage boy would look like Paul Bunyan. The reason this myth persists is because hair tapers as it grows, and when you cut it back you see the wider bottom portion. — Source: Business Insider

5

MYTH: GUM TAKES 7 YEARS FOR YOUR BODY TO DIGEST. CRACKED.COM Unlike sugars and flavoring, the rubbery base of chewing gum will not be digested if swallowed. This doesn't mean the chewy lump will stay inside of you; gum passes through your intestines and is expelled like all matter that isn't absorbed by the body. — Source: BBC

4

2 MYTH: BEING COLD WILL GET B YOU SICK. CRACKED.COM Being underdressed during Wintertime is mistakenly associated with causing illness since the viruses that cause the common cold replicate more easily at lower temperatures. Being cold can reduce your immune response against them, but it still takes an actual virus to get you sick. — Source: New York Times

3

2 MYTH: DIAMONDS COME FROM PRESSURIZED COAL. CRACKED.COM Coal and diamonds are created by two very different means, the only thing they have in common is being shaped by pressure underground. While coal is made up of plant material, diamonds are pure carbon minerals formed 90 miles below the Earth's surface. — Source: The Smithsonian

2

2 MYTH: DOGS DON'T SWEAT. B CRACKEDG Dogs primarily use panting to cool down, by letting water evaporate from their tongue and nasal passageways, but they do have sweat glands. Although dispersed across a dog's body, the sweat glands in their feet are the only ones that are known to actively sweat. — Source: Science Magazine

1

Bats

2 MYTH: BATS ARE BLIND. B CRACKED.co The misconception is that bats use echolocation to locate food to make up for their poor eyesight, when in reality they have excellent vision attuned for low light. A bat is no more blind than a dolphin, another creature that uses echolocation. — Source: Britannica

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