Back to School…for the Truth: 19 Facts You Learned That Are Myths

You should thank your teachers for many things. They taught you the ABCs, how to read, and how to do basic math, among many other lessons.

Still, no one’s perfect, and even your best teacher probably didn’t get everything right. Sometimes, purported facts change as we get more information. Other times, teachers fall for myths and regurgitate them as truths.

Some of the things you learned in school are simply wrong. Here are 19 oft-repeated lessons that prove my point.

1: Camouflaging Chameleons

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You probably know that chameleons can change color, and at some point, your teacher probably told you this camouflaging capability helped protect them from predators. While this makes sense, it’s not entirely correct.

Researchers say chameleons do need to blend in with their environment to protect themselves, but they do that naturally. They might shift color a little bit to match the current light conditions, but the drastic color changes these lizards are known for have another purpose.

Instead of changing color to blend in, chameleons reserve their most dramatic pigment shifts to draw attention to themselves. When two territorial males meet, they put on an exceptionally bright display, and the chameleon with the most vibrant patterning wins. Males also put on a show when in the presence of a female they want to attract.

2: Dinosaurs Are Extinct

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Believe it or not, dinosaurs aren’t really extinct. There’s no doubt you learned about an asteroid that hit the planet millions of years ago, ending the reign of the giant reptiles that once walked the Earth.

Except, dinosaurs aren’t reptiles and they didn’t all die out. Instead, they evolved into birds. Theropods, a class of meat-eating dinosaurs that includes the famed Tyrannosaurus Rex, slowly evolved into crows, pigeons, and chickens.

3: Dinosaurs Look Like Lizards

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Though many people believe dinosaurs are giant lizards, this isn’t true. In actuality, many dinosaurs are closely related to modern birds, and they may have looked like them.

The classic depiction of T. Rex and raptors in films like Jurrasic Park is probably incorrect. Dinosaurs like those likely had feathers rather than scaly skin, so they really looked more like giant, terrifying chickens.

4: The Tongue Map

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Do you remember learning about the five tastes? If so, you may remember viewing a tongue diagram that claimed to portray where each set of taste buds sat. Sweet was typically in front, bitter in the back, and the others along the sides.

The idea that you taste different things on each part of your tongue is entirely false. The tongue map theory dates back to 1901, and though teachers acted like it was proven, researchers knew it was flawed. In actuality, taste receptors for each flavor are widely distributed across our tongues.

5: Washington’s Wooden Teeth

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Elementary school teachers tend to spend a lot of time talking about our founding fathers, especially George Washington. While talking about him, they tend to tell stories that stick with kids well into adulthood.

One of those stories concerns Washington’s wooden teeth. While it’s true that Washington lost his real teeth to decay relatively early in life, the replacements weren’t made of wood.

Instead, Washington’s dentures were amalgams of ivory, tin, copper, and silver. They also included horse teeth and human teeth.

6: The Apple That Hit Newton’s Head

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The idea that Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell on his head is a nice story, but it’s probably not true. That said, Newton did have his “Aha moment” while in an apple orchard.

Newton was forced home from school because of an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague. While in his family’s apple orchard, he observed fruit falling from the trees.

The apple didn’t hit him on the head, but it did make him question why fruit always fell down rather than to the side or even up. Over twenty years later, Newton developed the law of universal gravitation.

7: Einstein Failed Math

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You may have heard that Einstein was a terrible student who couldn’t even pass his math class. While this is a great story, especially for students who struggle in traditional learning settings, it’s not really true.

Einstein was a critic of rigid curriculums, wasn’t terribly organized about his studies, and didn’t excel in every subject. However, when it came to science and math, he was consistently ahead of his class.

8: Three States of Matter

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In early science classes, you probably learned about the three states of matter. Your teacher may have used a simple ice cube to demonstrate the differences between solids, liquids, and gases.

Unfortunately, your teacher wasn’t telling the full story. There are four naturally occurring states of matter, not three (solid, liquid, gas, and plasma). There are also exotic states of matter, including Bose-Einstein condensates and time crystals.

9: Diamonds Come From Coal

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Telling kids a simple piece of coal could become a diamond after enough pressure is applied makes for a compelling metaphoric narrative. However, it’s a bit of a fable.

Diamonds and coal both stem from carbon, which is where this myth gets its grain of truth. That said, no matter how much pressure you apply to a coal briquette from your BBQ, a diamond will never result. Diamonds come from an exceptionally pure form of carbon, while coal does not.

10: Bees Defy Flight Physiology

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Bees are extraordinary creatures, but they don’t defy flight physiology. Of course, your early teachers may have taught you differently.

The idea that bees shouldn’t be able to fly comes from 1930s French entomologist August Magnan, who said as much in his observational notes. Researchers today have solved the problem, though.

According to them, the mystery of how a bee flies is no longer an enigma and mainly has to do with the direction of its wings. They flap back and forth rather than up and down, as Magnan believed.

11: The Great Wall of China Seen From Space

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The Great Wall of China is undoubtedly a feat of human engineering, but if you were taught it’s the only manmade structure visible from space, you’re incorrect. This long-purported myth is false in two ways.

First, the Great Wall of China isn’t visible from Earth’s orbit without magnification. Using a telescope, you can observe the Great Wall of China from the International Space Station. However, using magnification, you can see many other manmade structures as well, like highways and the Pyramids of Giza.

12: Don’t Start Sentences With Conjunctions

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Did a grammar stickler of an English teacher ever tell you not to start your sentences with a conjunction? Well, they were wrong.

You can start a sentence with “and” or “but” and even “or” if you want to. The idea that you shouldn’t begin a sentence with a conjunction may have come from well-meaning elementary school teachers who were trying to prevent children from writing strings of independent clauses.

However, some of our oldest texts and English-style guides, including Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style 1959 edition, use conjunctions to start sentences. And who are we to argue with them?

13: Toilets Flush in the Opposite Direction

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If you believe toilets flush in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere, you’re not alone. Many children grow up believing this myth to be true.

The idea comes from the Coriolis effect, a real and observable phenomenon that affects the path of fluids and air. However, toilets typically have jets that direct water along a specific path toward the drain. So, you can’t observe the Coriolis effect in a toilet; the water will move in the same direction regardless of your location.

14: Deoxgynated Blood Is Blue

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According to researchers, blood is always red. So, why do we all grow up believing that deoxygenated blood is blue?

This falsehood probably comes from the sometimes visibly blue veins beneath your skin. If you pull blood out of those veins, you’ll see it’s dark red. However, when we look at the blood through layers of skin and fat, it takes on a purplish-blue hue, giving this myth credence.

15: The 10% of Your Brain Myth

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At some point, you probably learned that you only use 10% of your brain. This notion often leads people to believe in the human mind’s untapped potential. While humans may be capable of far more than we realize, the idea that we only use a fraction of our minds is untrue.

PET scans show that our brains are constantly active in their entirety. Even scans of people with neurodegenerative diseases reveal more than 10% of their brain is in use.

16: Blind as a Bat

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The expression “blind as a bat” is common and stems from the idea that these night-flying animals can’t see at all. You may have been taught they rely entirely on echolocation to get around.

While bats do use echolocation to find food in the dark, they also have fantastic vision. According to Texas A&M University, bats use their vision to see beyond the restrictions of echolocation, helping them to identify predators, find food, and orient themselves mid-flight.

17: Dumb Neanderthals

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Depending on your age and your teacher, you may have been taught that Neanderthals were part of our evolutionary heritage, and you were almost certainly taught that they weren’t very intelligent. However, the dumb caveman story is just a story.

Neanderthals were a separate race that evolved alongside and interbred with humans. They were also very intelligent. They had some form of language, were advanced tool-makers, and survived in extremely harsh environments.

18: Stopping a Nosebleed

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If you had a nosebleed as a kid there’s a good chance a well-meaning coach or poorly-informed school nurse told you to tip your head back. Unfortunately, all this did was move the blood from your nose to your throat.

Blood flowing down your throat is uncomfortable and could be dangerous as some children will choke. Instead, doctors say you should learn slightly forward in the event of a nosebleed. This brings the blood close to the clotting site.

Then, squeeze the nostrils for several seconds. This helps promote clotting, ending the unpleasant experience.

19: Never Swallow Gum

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At one point or another, you were taught never to swallow your gum. You may have been warned that gum is indigestible and will stay in your gut for seven years.

This is an old wives tale, and there’s only a tiny piece of truth involved. Gum is indigestible, but if you swallow it, it won’t stay in your stomach. Instead, it will pass through unchanged.

There is a small risk of blocking your gut with gum, but you’d have to swallow an excessive amount. Experts define excessive as swallowing more than three pieces a day.

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