Napoleon wasn't short? Bananas don't grow on trees? Here, we debunk the world's most common myths, misconceptions and facts that aren't proven.
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Napoleon was short
The truth: At 5-foot-6, Napoleon was actually slightly above average height for a Frenchman of the time. Historians believe a British cartoonist who loved to caricature the emperor helped cement Napoleon’s legacy as a short man, and that inaccurate representation stuck.
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You should never eat and swim
The truth: Eating before swimming might give you mild cramps, and having a full stomach can make you short of breath. But alcohol is a much bigger risk. So while the “no swimming after eating” maxim is more of a myth than a fact, you should still be careful about what you consume if you’re heading in the water.
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Salty water boils quicker
The truth: Adding a sprinkle of salt to water makes a minimal difference. In fact, it may actually make boiling take longer!
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Oil prevents pasta from sticking together
The truth: This ranks high among the super surprising facts that aren’t proven, since so many of us do it. But, in reality, adding oil to pasta only makes it greasy. Stirring is much better at preventing sticking. Noted!
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The left and right brain are completely separate
The truth: There’s no solid division between the talents of each hemisphere. The left brain can learn “right-brain” skills, and vice versa. And yes, there’s a lot of misinformation out there about our bodies!
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Dropping a penny off a building could kill someone
The truth: The terminal velocity of a penny is 30 to 50 mph. Not fast enough to kill—but it sure would sting. That said, this urban legend has gained a lot of (ahem) momentum over the years.
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There were three wise men
The truth: Nowhere in the Bible does it specify that there were three. Really!
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MSG causes headaches
The truth: There’s no scientific proof—just anecdotal evidence implicating monosodium glutamate.
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Dogs sweat by salivating
The truth: No—they regulate their body temperature through panting. They actually sweat through their footpads.
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The Great Wall of China is visible from space
The truth: You’ve probably heard this one since you were in grade school, but it’s false. The Great Wall of China is not visible from space. In fact, no single human structure is visible from orbit, but you can see cities lit up at night.
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Flushing changes direction depending on which hemisphere you’re in
The truth: A flushed toilet does not rotate the other way in the Southern Hemisphere. This concept is based on a scientific theory called the Coriolis effect, but it doesn’t alter water in toilets.
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Einstein failed math
The truth: Einstein failed an entrance exam for school, but he still excelled in math.
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Humans and dinosaurs co-existed
The truth: Despite 41% of U.S. adults thinking humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time, at least for a little while, we actually missed each other by a whopping 64 million years. The only time humans and T. rexes have ever existed at the same time is in the Jurassic Park movies!
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Black holes are actually holes
The truth: Nope, they’re not holes in space—they’re hugely dense objects with massive gravitational pull.
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We have only five senses
The truth: We have way more than five senses. Some scientists insist on 21, while others say there are even more, including balance, pain and temperature.
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Vaccines cause autism
The truth: These groundless fears stem from fraudulent research that’s been shown to have been manipulated.
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You should never touch baby birds
The truth: Most birds have a limited sense of smell, so mama birds won’t abandon babies who “smell” of humans. It’s perfectly fine to pick up a baby bird and place it back in its nest.
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Alcohol kills brain cells
The truth: Even in heavy drinkers and alcoholics, alcohol doesn’t kill brain cells. It can damage them, though.
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You need to wait 24 hours to file a missing-persons report
The truth: Police don’t require a 24-hour waiting period before accepting a missing-persons report. This is a good example of why it’s so important to know facts that aren’t proven from ones that are!
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Different parts of your tongue have different tasting functions
The truth: There are not different sections of the tongue for each taste: bitter, sour, sweet, savory and umami.
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We use only 10% of our brains
The truth: The proportion of the brain “firing” at any one time is task-dependent, but ultimately, every region is used almost every day.
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Iron maidens were torture devices
The truth: These were never medieval torture devices, but 18th-century fakes were created for sensational circuses. This is one of those history facts that aren’t proven that you might swear you learned in school … but probably didn’t.
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You should never wake sleepwalkers
The truth: They’ll be really confused, but it’s OK. They’re more likely to hurt themselves if they’re not woken.
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Bananas grow on trees
The truth: Actually, bananas grow on massive herbaceous plants that just resemble trees.
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Milk increases mucus
The truth: Nope, it doesn’t. There’s no need to avoid milk or dairy when you have a cold.
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Bats are blind
The truth: Not only can bats see, but they also use echolocation. That’s just one of the reasons they’re so awesome!
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Caffeine dehydrates you
The truth: Not really. The diuretic effect of caffeine is offset by the amount of water in a caffeinated drink.
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A goldfish has a three-second memory
The truth: While not the smartest creatures, goldfish boast a memory span of three months.
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Shaving thickens hair
The truth: Regrown hair isn’t thicker, coarser or darker. It just appears that way because it grows back with a blunt tip.
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It takes seven years to digest one piece of gum
The truth: The chewy base of gum is indigestible and passes straight through your digestive system. The remainder is absorbed. While swallowing gum is pretty harmless, it’s still probably better to spit it out.
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Vikings wore horned helmets
The truth: The helmets were created by a costume designer for a 19th-century Wagner opera.
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Alcohol keeps you warm
The truth: It merely dilates blood vessels near the skin, creating the impression of warmth. And it can actually drop core body temperature.
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A Vomitorium was used for drinking binges
The truth: It wasn’t a room Romans used for Bacchanalian binges. Believe it or not, the name referred to the entrance to a stadium in ancient Rome.
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Sugar causes hyperactivity
The truth: Studies have disproved this. Poor or rowdy behaviors still occur in children with sugar-free diets.
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Bulls hate red
The truth: Bulls are colorblind. They actually perceive motions of the bullfighter’s cloth as a threat.
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Bagpipes are Scottish
The truth: Sorry, Braveheart fans. Bagpipes were prevalent in the Middle East centuries before they began appearing in Western Europe.
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Your hair and nails keep growing after you die
The truth: Wrong—but your skin tissue does recede, making them appear longer.
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Toads cause warts
The truth: Humans can catch warts only from other humans. Those bumps on toads are just their skin glands. Makes you wonder what else we have wrong about animals!
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SOS means “Save Our Ship”
The truth: It doesn’t stand for anything! SOS became a Morse code distress signal because it’s so easy to transmit: three dots, three dashes, three dots.
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Adam and Eve ate an apple
The truth: They ate a forbidden “fruit” from the tree of knowledge. Nowhere in Genesis does it say it was an apple.
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We all swallow eight spiders per year while we sleep
The truth: Spiders usually don’t crawl into beds at night because there’s no prey there. You probably swallow zero spiders per year. That’s a relief!
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Everest is the tallest mountain
The truth: Only above sea level. If you measure Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano from its underwater base, it stands more than 33,000 feet tall—4,000 feet above Everest.
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Van Gogh cut off his ear for a lover
The truth: It was just a small piece of the lobe, and he did it during a violent spat with painter Paul Gauguin. Whether Van Gogh gave it to a local call girl remains unknown.
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The Pilgrims first landed at Plymouth Rock
The truth: They landed in what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts, and signed the Mayflower Compact there. Plymouth came five weeks later. That’s a fun fact about America that most Americans don’t know!
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A story can “break” the internet
The truth: “The internet is a very resilient system.” says web pioneer Vint Cerf. Shutting down the whole thing has not happened [since] it has been in operation.” Though never say never!
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Slaves built the pyramids
The truth: Egyptologists say this ancient construction job was a great honor granted only to respected laborers, who remain entombed near the site today.
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Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the symbol of the United States
The truth: While designing the national seal, Franklin proposed an image of Moses, not a wild turkey, to represent America.
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Your fingernails all grow at the same rate
The truth: Because blood flow stimulates nail growth, the nails on your dominant hand actually grow faster.
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Ninjas wore black
The truth: The “uniform” comes from years of fiction and folklore. Real ninjas wore anything that would help them blend into daily life.
Additional reporting by Brandon Specktor.
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