This is episode 120 of the Baehr and Curadh podcast. We are going to talk about common misconceptions.
- The Bermuda Triangle does not have any more shipwrecks or mysterious disappearances than other waterways of comparable area.
- Ingesting Visine, a brand of eye drops, does not cause diarrhea. Pranks spiking people with Visine rose after the misconception was popularized by the film Wedding Crashers.
- A chloroform-soaked rag cannot instantly incapacitate a person. It takes at least five minutes of inhaling an item soaked in chloroform to render a person unconscious.
- There are not four primary tastes, but five: in addition to bitter, sour, salty, and sweet, humans have taste receptors for umami, which is a "savory" or "meaty" taste.
- People do not use only 10% of their brains. A healthy human will normally use most of their brain over the course of a day, doing so all at one time would likely result in a fatal seizure.
- Vaccines do not cause autism. There have been no successful attempts to reproduce fraudulent research by ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield. His research was ultimately shown to have been manipulated.
- A full moon does not accompany an increase in crime. A reported correlation was found through later analysis, not to be supported by the data and to have been the result of inappropriate and misleading statistical procedures.
- It is not possible for a person to completely submerge in quicksand, as commonly depicted in television.
- The Coriolis effect does not cause water to drain from basins in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction depending on the hemisphere.
- If one were to flip a coin five times and get heads each time, it would not be any more likely for a sixth flip to come up tails.
- Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb. The team of inventors Edison employed at his laboratories in Menlo Park, New Jersey did, however, develop the first practical light bulb in 1880.
- Acne is not caused by eating fatty foods, though certain medication may worsen it.
- Having sex before a sporting event or contest is not physiologically detrimental to performance. In fact, sex can elevate male testosterone levels, which could enhance performance for male athletes.
- It is not possible to get pregnant from semen released in a commercial swimming pool. The sperm cells would be quickly killed by the chlorinated water.
- Older adults are not necessarily sexually inactive nor have they lost interest in sex; although the frequency of sexual activity tends to decline with age.
- The order in which different types of alcoholic beverages are consumed ("Beer before liquor never sicker; liquor before beer in the clear") does not affect intoxication or create adverse side effects.
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG) does not cause headaches or other problems. Many studies that found a biological effect were done on rats, used unusually large doses of MSG, and these can't be extrapolated to humans.
- Eating less than an hour before exercise does not increase the risk of experiencing muscle cramps.
- Sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children. Double-blind trials have shown no difference in behavior between children given sugar-full or sugar-free foods.
- Drinking eight glasses of water a day is not needed to maintain health. The actual amount of water needed varies by person, weight, diet, activity level, clothing, and the ambient heat and humidity.
- There is a scientific consensus that food derived from genetically modified crops poses no greater risk to human health than conventional food.
- Rust does not cause tetanus infection. The Clostridium tetani bacterium is generally found in dirty environments.
