40 myths
Honeybees do die, because their barbed stinger tears loose in mammal skin. But most of the 20,000 bee species have smooth stingers and can sting again and again.
Diamond is the hardest material anyone can actually use, and the hardest thing on the Mohs scale. A few substances may be harder in theory, but nobody has produced a sample pure enough to prove it.
Lightning regularly strikes 10 to 15 miles from a storm, under sky that looks completely clear. It’s called a bolt from the blue, and if you can hear thunder you’re already within range.
A black hole’s gravity is the same as any other object of the same mass. Replace the Sun with one and Earth would keep orbiting normally. They even blow matter back out.
the Titanic was called “practically unsinkable” in print before it sailed, but nobody ever advertised it as flatly unsinkable. The qualifier was there from the start, and it’s the part that got lost.
Your body holds together — skin and blood vessels are strong enough. Vacuum kills by suffocation, not explosion, and you’d stay conscious for about 9 to 15 seconds.
Franklin really did praise the turkey over the eagle — but in a private letter to his daughter, two years after the eagle was already chosen, and he never proposed replacing it.
The pyramids were built by paid Egyptian workers who were well fed, housed in a purpose-built village, and buried in honor beside the monuments they raised.
Frozen vegetables are picked ripe and frozen within hours, so they often hold more nutrients than fresh produce that’s spent days in transport and a fridge.
Colds are caused by viruses, not temperature — wet hair can make you feel cold, but it can’t make you infected.
Spinach is packed with iron implies it's a good iron source, and it isn't — the oxalic acid locks most of it up.
Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added back — same sucrose, and the trace minerals are far too small to matter.
Napoleon was about 5'6" to 5'7", average or slightly above for his time — the myth comes from a French measurement misread as English and from British wartime cartoons.
The Sun is white — it emits all visible colors at once, and our atmosphere scatters the blue away, which is what makes it look yellow from the ground.
They do change color, and it does help them hide a little — but the main reasons are talking to other chameleons and managing body heat.
Dogs and humans carry about the same number of mouth bacteria — roughly 600 types versus 615. The germs are different, not fewer, and dogs actually have worse dental health.
Hot water can freeze faster than cold under some conditions, but not always, and nobody has explained why.
Twinkies do not last forever. They stay good far longer than most baked goods, but nowhere near forever.
The five second rule is fake. The amount of bacteria on a food depends on type of surface, contamination of surface, and how wet the food is.
A penny is too light and flat to kill somebody, by falling off a building.
Earth is round, but not a perfect sphere; it's an oblate spheroid, slightly flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator due to its spin.
Complex snowflakes are extremely unlikely to match exactly, but simple ones can look alike
Fortune cookies were introduced in California, by Japanese immigrants, in the 1900’s.
Half True- Cats don’t always land on their legs. Sometimes they might get injured from falling in the wrong position.
Cracking your knuckles does not give you Arthritis.
Decades of searching, including modern DNA testing, have found no evidence of a monster in Loch Ness. The most famous "proof" — the 1934 photo — was later confessed to be a hoax.
Vikings never wore horned helmets. The image comes from a 19th-century opera costume, not real Viking history.
Astronauts have confirmed the Great Wall isn't visible to the naked eye from orbit. It's too narrow and blends into the landscape.
Einstein excelled at math. The myth likely comes from a failed entrance exam (due to other subjects) and confusion over old grading scales.
Carrots support healthy eyesight, but they won't give you super night vision. The myth actually comes from WWII propaganda.
swallowed gum passes through your system in a few days, just like everything else you eat.
goldfish can remember things for months, not seconds.
lightning strikes the same spots again and again, especially tall or pointy structures.
there's plenty of gravity in space. Astronauts float because they're falling, not because gravity is gone.
An apple a day does not reduce doctor visits.
There is no verified physical evidence but there is a picture.
Our brain is used to its fullest.
The Declaration of Independence was signed on August 2, 1776
Eating it together will cause infections and stomach problems.
Bulls are colorblind to red; it is the motion.
