Emily Flores
Question everything you think you know, because chances are some of it is completely made up. Certain myths have achieved legendary status simply by being repeated endlessly across generations. They sound reasonable, feel true, and trick even smart people into believing them without question. Here are the “truths” that have been deceiving you this whole time.
You Only Use 10% Of Your Brain.
You know that myth about only using 10% of your brain? Total nonsense. Modern technology lets us peek inside living brains, and they’re completely active all the time. Each area has specific jobs, which become obvious when brain injuries affect particular functions. Even basic movements require multiple regions coordinating perfectly together.
Shaving Makes Hair Grow Back Thicker
Here’s what actually happens when you shave. Hair naturally tapers to a soft point at the end. Razors slice straight across, creating a stubby, flat tip. As this grows out, it feels scratchy and thick because you’re touching the blunt edge. The hair itself never gets thicker or darker.
Sugar Causes Hyperactivity In Kids
Despite what many parents believe, sugar doesn’t turn children into tiny tornadoes of energy. This myth gained traction in the 1970s but lacks scientific backing. The real reason kids seem hyper after eating sweets? They usually enjoy them at exciting events like parties or holidays.
Cracking Knuckles Causes Arthritis
Generations of parents got this one wrong. Cracking knuckles doesn’t cause arthritis, period. The popping occurs when gas bubbles in your joint fluid suddenly collapse due to pressure changes. It’s like opening a soda bottle—there’s a sound, but no actual damage occurs to anything important in your hands.
Lightning Never Strikes The Same Place Twice
Lightning strikes wherever it’s easiest to reach the ground, not where it hasn’t been before. Tall buildings, trees, and towers create perfect pathways from clouds to earth. That’s exactly why some structures get hit repeatedly while others never do. Height matters way more than lightning’s supposed “memory” of previous strikes.
We Ingest Eight Spiders Each Year While Sleeping
This urban legend crumbles under basic spider biology. Spiders survive by avoiding predators, and humans are definitely predators to them. Even when you’re sleeping, you’re breathing, moving, and generating vibrations that spiders can detect and want to escape from. The idea that they’d voluntarily crawl toward your mouth is absurd.
Bats Are Blind
Despite the common myth, bats are not blind—they have functional eyes and keen vision. Fruit bats, often called flying foxes, have especially large eyes that help them find food in dim lighting. While bats are well-known for finding their way through sound signals, their eyesight is still a vital sense for survival in the dark.
Hair And Nails Grow After Passing
Hair and nails growing after passing? That’s just an optical illusion. When someone dies, their skin starts losing moisture and shrinking back. This makes hair and nail roots more visible, creating the false impression they’ve grown longer. It’s not actual growth—just skin pulling away from what was already there.
Alcohol Warms You Up
That warm feeling from alcohol is your body’s heat alarm going off. Drinking causes blood vessels to expand, pushing heated blood toward your skin. So, what feels like getting warmer is actually rapid heat loss from your most important organs. In freezing conditions, this false warmth can become genuinely life-threatening.
Goldfish Have A Three-Second Memory
Your goldfish remembers more than you think. These fascinating creatures can store memories for weeks, not just a few seconds. They can learn simple tasks and even recognize human faces. The idea that they forget everything so quickly? That’s probably just a silly joke that stuck.