8 Scientific Myths You Believe in Nothing

Myth 1. Oxygen on Earth comes from trees

If you ask anyone you meet where oxygen comes from in the atmosphere of our planet, he will probably answer: "It is produced by trees." Comrades who are especially pumped in geography will add that the tropical jungle, those in the Amazon basin, are the “lungs of the planet”.

Trees are certainly important, and they should be planted as much as possible, but they are not the main source of life-giving O₂.

In reality, land plants produce only a third of the oxygen on our planet. And its main volume - more than 70% - formed1. Save the Plankton, Breathe Freely / National Geographic Society
2. How much oxygen comes from the ocean? / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U. S. Department of Commerce thanks to phytoplankton, kelp and algal plankton.

It is the tiny plant microorganisms that live in the oceans that are the source of

oxygen for us. Therefore, water pollution threatens to reduce the amount of this gas in the atmosphere.

Myth 2. There are palm trees that can walk

There is such a plant - socratea naked root. This is a palm tree that grows in the rainforests of the tropics of Central and South America. It differs from other "brothers" -trees in that its roots stick out above the soil and the trunk does not begin underground, but above it. On the Internet, this palm tree is regularly called "the only plant in the world that can move."

Well, there are representatives of the plant world, who, for example, turn depending on the position of the sun or grab fly leaves.

So why not exist for trees that can take and leave when they are not satisfied with the conditions in the place of growth?

The idea is funny, but bare-rooted Socratea cannot walk. This bike appearedJ. H. Bodley, F. C. Benson. Stilt‑Root Walking by an Iriateoid Palm in the Peruvian Amazon / Biotropica in 1980 at the suggestion of botanist John Bodley. He suggested that the palm tree grows new roots, and the old ones rot away from it so that it actually moves from its place.

It was just a hypothesis, not connected with reality, but local guides in the parks of Costa Rica picked it up and began to tell tourists that they have palm trees.

Myth debunkedb. Radford. The Myth of the Walking Tree / Skeptical Inquiree another botanist, Benjamin Radford. He proved that palm trees do not walk, even when they think they are not being looked at. And such long roots are shorter neededG. Avalos. Stilt Root Structure in the Neotropical Palms Iriartea deltoidea and Socratea exorrhiza1 / Biotropica, in order to successfully grow upwards, reaching the light, while not increasing the thickness of the trunk and spending less biomass during its formation.

Myth 3. If you quickly pick up food from the floor, the bacteria will not have time to get on it.

Surely you have heard many proverbs like “Quickly raised is not considered to have fallen”, “What fell from a student fell on a newspaper”, “Every mote is a vitamin”, and so on. They have the same meaning: if you drop food, but then quickly pick it up, no harmful microbes couldn't get on it from the floor.

This concept is also called the five second rule.

In fact, even short-term contact with a surface covered with microbes enoughP. Dawson. Residence time and food contact time effects on transfer of Salmonella Typhimurium from tile, wood and carpet: testing the five-second rule / Journal of Applied Microbiologyto contaminate food. itverifiedIf You Drop It, Should You Eat It? Scientists Weigh In on the 5-Second Rule - College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences / University of Illinois experimentally in 2003 by microbiologist Gillian Clark from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (she even received the Ig Nobel Prize for this).

Another thing is that on the floor of an average home kitchen, as a rule, do not meetIf You Drop It, Should You Eat It? Scientists Weigh In on the 5-Second Rule - College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences / University of Illinois so dangerous strains bacteriaso that eating raised foods leads to serious illness. But in catering places it is better not to take risks.

Myth 4. Sunflowers follow the sun

Another misconception from the world of botany. All sensible people are convinced that sunflower flowers turn after the sun. After all, it’s not for nothing that the plant got its name? But even here everything is not so simple.

Indeed, the vast majority of plants characteristicC. W. Whippo. Phototropism: Bending towards Enlightenment / The Plant Cell heliotropism is the ability to turn towards a light source. This allows more efficient photosynthesize.

But in a sunflower, adult flowers are always turned strictly to the east.

FollowJ. P. Vandenbrink. Turning heads: the biology of solar tracking in sunflower / UC Berkeley Previously Published Works behind the light, only green buds. And blooming, the flowers lose this ability. So you can wait until the black and yellow giants start spinning indefinitely.

Myth 5. Beer contains female hormones

It is known that beer contains hops, and in it, in turn, availableE. R. Rosenblum. Assessment of the Estrogenic Activity of Phytoestrogens Isolated from Bourbon and Beer / Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research Phytoestrogen is the plant analogue of the female hormone estrogen. Because of this, some authors on the Internet - especially healthy lifestyle advocates - vehemently oppose foam, assuring that it can make a man "effeminate».

And the truth is: people who abuse alcohol become overweight, and their breasts begin to sag! Everything converges.

But this is a myth. The hormone contained in beer hops is much weakerE. R. Rosenblum. Assessment of the Estrogenic Activity of Phytoestrogens Isolated from Bourbon and Beer / Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research human estrogen. And to change the hormonal background, its doses not enoughWill Beer Give You Man Boobs? / insider - you will have to drink at least a tank or two of beer, so that a person will die earlier from alcohol poisoning.

In addition, phytoestrogen in large quantities containedL. U. Thompson. Phytoestrogen Content of Foods Consumed in Canada, Including Isoflavones, Lignans, and Coumestan / Nutrition and Cancer in nuts and oilseeds, as well as cereals, legumes, tofu, oats, barley, lentils, rice and other plant foods. And nothing, it seems that male athletes do not turn into women.

People drinking beer get fat, as well as lovers of other alcoholic beverages. Because, first of all, alcohol slows downY. Schutz. Role of substrate utilization and thermogenesis on body‑weight control with particular reference to alcohol / Proceedings of the Nutrition Society fat burning, and secondly - stimulatesS. J. caton. Dose‑dependent effects of alcohol on appetite and food intake / Clinical Trials appetite. And the “female hormones” in hops have absolutely nothing to do with it.

Myth 6. To cook a frog in boiling water, you need to increase the temperature gradually

A popular anecdote says that if you throw a frog into hot water, it will immediately jump out. But if you put it in a cold one and increase the temperature gradually, then the unfortunate amphibian will not feel the danger in time and will be boiled alive.

Everything is like with people: they do not notice negative changes if you complicate their life not immediately, but step by step.

That's just frogs Creatures are far more cunning than you think. They jump out of the water as soon as the temperature becomes uncomfortable for them, without waiting for the boil. And that was actually a long time ago. verifiedW. Gibbons. The Legend of the Boiling Frog is Just a Legend / Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia experts from the University of Georgia.

The myth appeared in 1869 due to the experiments of the German physiologist Friedrich Goltz. That installedF. L. Goltz. Beiträge zur Lehre von den Functionen der Nervencentren des Frosches.that frogs really do not notice water boiling... if their brains are removed first.

The same amphibians in which this organ remains in the skull, as provided nature, leave the container at a liquid temperature of about 25 °C.

Myth 7. There is a special sound that makes people have a bowel movement

KnownW. Tempest. Infrasound and Low Frequency Vibrationthat infrasound at high volume does not affect people in the best way. It causes restlessness, nausea, vision problems, anxiety and can even make you see ghosts. But this is not the worst.

On the Internet, you can find claims that there is a special sound in the range between 5 and 9 Hz, which makes people who hear it involuntarily defecate. It was allegedly opened during tests for US astronauts, who, due to the vibrations of the rocket engines, accidentally stained their clothes.

The wits called this sound "brown note". They even made a series about him in South Park.

But in fact, this is also a myth. During the development of rockets in the space program in the United States, indeed were carried outW. Tempest. Infrasound and Low Frequency Vibration tests on the impact on people of infrasound - in the range from 0.5 to 40 Hz.

And too long its influence led to dizziness, nausea, nervousness and temporary disorientation. But no one got their pants dirty.

Myth 8. Life on Earth will disappear in 5 billion years when the Sun becomes a giant

Our Sun is about the middle of its life cycle: it is about 4.6 billion years old, and it will shine for another 5 billion.

After this time, the star will swell, will turnWhat Will Happen to Life on Earth? /Astronomy from a yellow dwarf to a red giant, expanding to the orbit of Mars, and then gradually decrease and go out. The stub left from it, a white dwarf, will shine stably, but weakly for a very long time.

Since in 5 billion years the expanding Sun will swallow the Earth, most popular science sites write that this is how much time of life there is left on it. Say, the luminary will turn into a hulk and burn all the planets of the terrestrial group. And on this fairy tale end.

In fact, life on our Earth will disappear even earlier, before the Sun becomes a giant. A habitable planet will not be five billion years old, but only one.

The sun does not increase power immediately, but gradually. And it is in a billion years that the solar wind will becomeWhat Will Happen to Life on Earth? /Astronomy.com intense enough to vaporize the oceans. And the planet will completely lose liquid and atmosphere in about two and a half billion years. Live with it now.