What to know

5 Common False Myths

Discover 5 common myths proven to be false, and learn their origin.

Every day we hear myths that a majority of people believe to be true just because they heard it somewhere. We are here to give you the truth behind them.

 

Entrance to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen

The Pharaoh’s Curse
The Pharaoh’s originated in 1922, when Howard Carter and his friends opened the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen in Egypt. A member of the party, Lord Carnarvon was in Egypt because his doctor believed the climate would help his poor health, but got bitten by a mosquito as he entered the tomb, developed an infection and died. The curse allegedly written at the entrance of the crypt, “They who enter this sacred tomb shall swift be visited by wings of death”, was made up by a paper reporting on the excavation.

 

Child holding a sugar frosted cupcake

Sugar Makes Kids Hyper
This myth has been the agony of every child, parents believing that too much sugar will drive children crazy. There is actually no evidence that support this claim, except that children are excited over having candy. There are several reasons why parents should limit their children’s sugar intake, but hyper activity is not one of them (unless the child has an insulin disorder).

 

Woman with cold

Cold weather causes colds
This is one of those myths that are false, but actually true. By a study performed by scientists in Cardiff, they had people soak their feet in ice cold water for 20 minutes. Strangely enough 29% of the volunteers developed a cold later on. The cold the volunteers developed was in fact not due to the cold water, but scientists explained that you might have the virus without knowing when your immune system is strong, but symptoms develop when your immune system focuses on warming you up.

 

A big African elephant

An Elephant Never Forgets
Since elephants are the biggest land animals, the have the biggest land brains. Elephants have proven to be able to memorize a mental map of their entire home range, hundreds of thousands of kilometers. At one incident, a researcher witnessed a mother and daughter elephant recognizing each other after 23 years of separation

 

The great wall of china

Great Wall Of China Can be seen from Space
This is a widely known fact, but it is widely false. The Great Wall of China can not be seen from space, because even though it is 8,851.8 kilometers in length, its widest point is just over 10 meters. Its color also blends in superbly with its surroundings, making it hard to spot from just few thousands meters up.

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