50 Well-Known "Facts" That Are Actually Just Common Myths

[soybean]

20

The forbidden fruit in the story of Adam and Eve is an apple.​

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Yes, the Bible does say that Adam and Eve ate a forbidden fruit. But despite many Sunday school stories and visual representations depicting that fruit as an apple, it's never stated in the text as such. According to NPR, the apple depiction was the result of some confusion with the Hebrew Bible being translated into Latin, using the term "malus," which translates to both "evil" and "apple."

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[soybean]

21

Your hair and fingernails continue to grow after you die.​

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It's true that a person's hair and nails may appear longer after their death. But, according to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, that's only because the skin around a person nails and hair retracts over time due to dehydration of the body, not because their hair and nails are actually growing.

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[soybean]

22

If you touch a baby bird with your bare hands, its mother will reject it.​

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It's long been believed that if you were to pick up a lost baby bird and return it to its nest, its mother will reject it once she catches the scent of a human. If that sounds a little harsh, that's because it is. It's just another common myth, according to Scientific American. "In general, wild animals bond with their young and do not quickly abandon them," Laura Simon of the Humane Society of the United States explained to the publication. Besides, a bird's ability to smell is still up for debate.

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[soybean]

23

Drinking alcohol raises your body temperature.​

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While you may feel warmer when you drink alcohol, that's the booze and your brain getting together and playing tricks on the rest of your body. In reality, alcohol actually lowers your core body temperature, according to an oft-cited 2005 study published in the scientific journal Alcohol.

 

[soybean]

24

Cracking your knuckles too much will cause arthritis.​

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Knuckle crackers of the world can rest easy, at least on the arthritis front, because, according to Harvard Medical School, cracking your knuckles doesn't increase your risk of developing the painful joint condition. That cracking noise actually comes from collapsing gas bubbles. However, cracking too often may weaken the strength of your grip (not to mention aggravate the nerves of the people around you).

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[soybean]

25

Georgia produces the most peaches of any state in the U.S.​

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Georgia may be known as the Peach State, but it's the Golden State that is the top producer of peaches in the U.S. According to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, California grew 541,000 tons of peaches in 2017. Meanwhile, Georgia wasn't even in the top three, even though peaches are its official state fruit! (For those who are curious, New Jersey was second and Pennsylvania was third.)

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[soybean]

26

Sugar causes hyperactivity in children.​

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Many parents will blame their children's rowdy behavior on an overabundance of sugar, but there's no actual evidence to support those claims. A definitive 1995 meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that sugar in children's diets does not affect their behavior.

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[soybean]

27

Bats are blind.​

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Contrary to popular belief—and the idiom "as blind as a bat"—these nocturnal creatures can absolutely see. In fact, as Rob Mies, former executive director for the Organization for Bat Conservation, told National Geographic, bats "can see three times better than humans." So joke's on us!

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[soybean]

28

Lightning never strikes twice.​

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You've probably heard someone say that "lightning never strikes twice," but while this old adage is still used today, it's not true—at least not scientifically. NASA debunked this myth in 2003, reporting that "lightning definitely strikes more than one place." In fact, it does so about a third of the time!

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[soybean]

29

Humans only have five senses.​

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Many of us were taught that humans have five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. But those are only the five basic senses. While this concept of the "five" senses originated with Aristotle, many scientists argue that humans actually have between 14 and 20 senses.

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