10 Common Myths That Have Nothing to Do with the Truth

We believe in them because everybody else does. And nobody goes to lengths to check whether they are really true. And in fact sometimes they have absolutely nothing in common with the truth.

According to research, we lose the heat through each uncovered part of our body, be that the head or legs. In fact our head is just a fraction of the entire body's area which means that only a fraction of the heat escapes this way. The head does not give off extra heat and is really prone to frostbites.

Although this can really be the case that their body changes its color, it is by no means for camouflage. In fact it's quite the contrary – they want to be clearly visible, especially during the mating season when the animals can get very aggressive. So the truth is that chameleons use the change of color to communicate with each other

Contrary to a common belief camels do not store water in their large humps. It is nothing but fat. It is kept there in case the animals run out of food which often happens due to the desert environment camels normally dwell in. In fact water is stored in the blood circulation system, which lets the animals survive even a week without drinking.

Many people believe that the summer comes when our planet is close to the sun. Although it seems to make quite a lot of sense, in fact it is not true. The earth rotates around its axis which is an imaginary line connecting the north and the south pole. As the axis is not perfectly vertical, different parts of our planet experience different sun exposure at various points of the year. In fact the earth is closer to the sun in the winter on the northern hemisphere, and in the summer it is the furthest from our star.

One of the oldest myths is the one where our tongue is divided into areas, each responsible for detecting particular taste: bitter, sweet, sour and salty. Scientists, however, clearly demonstrated that taste buds can be found in such places of our mouth cavity as palate or throat. While it is true that some areas of our tongue are more sensitive to particular tastes, our mouth cavity is full of the receptor cells which send their signal to the brain which allows us to differentiate between specific smells.

In fact a thunder does hit the same place, sometimes even during the same storm and sometimes after a couple of years. It can hit such tall buildings as Empire State Building even 100 times per year.

The only ingredient that is difficult to digest is the basis of the gum, usually it's natural or synthetic polymer. The gum slowly travels along the digestive tract and almost intact get removed together with excrements.

Actually these small animals have got far better memory, well beyond the three seconds you could have been taught at school. They can learn how to associate sounds and objects with food. They could also be taught to swim through rings or even play soccer. Gold fish also recognize their owners or press a lever to get a meal.

Many people believe that stepping onto a rusty nail is a fast track to tetanus infection. Although rusty nails and metal are typical for tetanus infection, this had got nothing to do with rust. It is soil that can be found on such items as rusty nails where the deadly bacteria grows. So if you want to avoid such infection, you have to avoid even tiny scratches as this is enough for tetanus to infect you.

According to John Henley, there is evidence to confirm the statement that within a single day we exploit 100% of our brain's potential. Thanks to modern imaging technology scientists can monitor brain’s activity even when we are sleeping.