World's Most Contagious Falsehoods

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David McCandless through his Information is Beautiful website has added a whole page of Common MythConceptions - and I (un)learnt that:
  • Depression = chemical imbalance
    Simplistic. Thank pharma for the idea that major depression is caused by an imbalance of brain chemicals like serotonin.
  • Bananas grow on trees
    They actually grow on massive herbs that resemble trees. Bet you didn’t know that.
  • We lose heat through the head
    Only in infants is most heat lost this way. Or if the head is the only uncovered part of the body.
  • Fishy 3-sec memory
    While not the smartest, goldfish boast a memory span of 3 months – better than most politicians.
  • Glass is a liquid
    Actually an ‘amorphous solid’. ‘But that's why stained-glass windows are thicker at the bottom.’ Nope. It’s just badly made glass.
  • Sugar = hyperactivity
    Studies have disproved this. ADHD and poor behaviours still occurs in children with sugar-free diets. [also: QI S7E9 - Myth Of Sugary Foods/Drinks Effect On Children Exposed!] 
  • Shaving thickens hair
    Regrown hair isn’t thicker, coarser or darker. It just appears so because it’s no longer tapered.
  • Left & right brain
    There's no evidence that creativity or logic reside in a particular side of the brain, or that a person can be "left-" or "right-brained".
  • The three wise men
    Nowhere in the New Testament does it specify there were three.
  • Flush direction
    Toilet water does not rotate the other way in the Southern hemisphere. The Coriolis effect only affects large bodies of water.
  • Water & electricity
    Water itself doesn't conduct electricity. It's actually an insulator. But substances dissolved in water (salts etc) can often conduct current.
  • Women sync their periods
    Multiple studies show that the cycles of women living together do not synchronise.
There's way more on the page, enjoy.

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