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32 Lies That Have Become Canonized As Fact

March 11, 2024

In case you were unaware, we have a very dedicated team of truth-seekers who love nothing more than exposing would-be facts for what they really are — myths. Day and night, they toil away at possibly the most important job there is. So today, alongside their most recent myth-to-fact transformations, we give them a very special shoutout. Thank you, truth-seekers. We see you. We appreciate you. We value you more than you’ll ever know.

32

Sharks

MYTH Sharks can smell blood from miles away. TRUTH Sharks can smell blood from a quarter of a mile away. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Bulls

MYTH Bulls will charge anything that's the color red. TRUTH Bulls are colorblind to the color red. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Lobsters

MYTH Lobsters are monogamous. TRUTH Female lobsters spend up to two weeks with a mate. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

MYTH Wolves howl at the moon. TRUTH Wolves howl to communicate, day or night. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

MYTH Hyenas are only scavengers who rely on lions to kill for them. TRUTH Hyenas are great hunters who are more likely to have their hunt stolen from them by a lion. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Roadrunners

MYTH Roadrunners can outrun those pesky coyotes. TRUTH Roadrunners can run up to 20 mph, but coyotes can run twice as fast. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

CRACKED COM Swedish meatballs are actually Turkish- The dish was introduced to Sweden by their monarch, King Charles XII, who had developed a taste for it while travelling throughout the Ottoman Empire. — Source

25

Brown sugar is not healthier than regular white sugar. vs The only difference between the two is the taste. Although the difference in taste is caused by brown sugar's containing more minerals, the amount is too small to have any sort of effect. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Ice cream doesn't cool you down, it warms you up! That's because the body heats up while it digests the ingredients in ice cream. GRACKED.COM — Source

23

That red puddle under your steak isn't blood. CRACKED.COM Beef carcasses are drained of blood before they are butchered and processed. The red liquid on your plate is really a mixture of water and myoglobin, a protein found in muscle tissue. — Source

22

Coffee does NOT dehydrate you. The reason you might see an increase in urination is because it's mostly water. It actually helps hydrate you and you can count it toward your water intake. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Fat does not cause weight gain. Healthy fats-such as eggs, avocados, and nuts-actually help people consume fewer calories, possibly due to the satiating effects of fat. CRACKED COM — Source

20

The Human Brain

MYTH: A PeRSOn IS eITHeR LeFT- OR RIGHT-BRAINED. FACT: YOUR BRAIN ISN'T DIVIDED UP THAT WAY. The myth that right-brained people are creative and artistic and left-brained people are logical and mathematical is so pervasive that teachers are instructed to balance the brained-ness of their teachings. The brain does indeed have some specialized structures, but the idea that they cluster on opposite sides of the brain like rival gangs is ridiculous. CRACKED.COM http://www.livescience.com/655-lefty-myths-mysteries-persist.html — Source

19

MYTH: YOUR TONGUE IS zoneD BY FLAVOR TYPE. BITTER SALTY SALTY Méxica SOUR SOUR SWEET FACT: YOUR WHOLE TONGUE TASTES THINGS. The myth about your tongue being able to taste different flavors with different areas started with a mistranslation of an old German study. Turns out all areas in the tongue are about equally good at detecting different flavors. It's not an evenly distributed democracy of taste buds, but every tongue has different patterns of strength and weakness. CRACKED.COM http://www. livescience.com/7113-tongue-map-tasteless-myth-debunked.html — Source

18

MYTH: HUMAN BEINGS HAVE FIVE senses. TOUCH TASTE SIGHT HEARING SMELL FACT: You've ACTUALLY GOT SOMETHING LIKE 15. Scientists still aren't quite sure exactly how many senses you have, or what even constitutes a sense, but you'd be hard-pressed to find one who believes you have just five. Depending on how they count senses, experts usually wind up with somewhere between 14 and 20. There's your sense of time, your sense of where your body is, and so on. CRACKED.COM http://science. .howstuffworks.com/life/question242.htm — Source

17

MYTH: CERTAIN GAmes CAn IMPROVE YOUR BRAIN. Memory Attention Speed Focus FACT: THEY JUST mAKe YOU BeTTeR AT THE GAme. Most studies that say brain-training games actually do what they advertise aren't exactly credible. Scientists who administered intelligence tests learned the actual result of playing a brain game: You get better at the game. That's all. But that hasn't stopped the multimillion-dollar brain game industry from making wild, unsubstantiated claims. CRACKED.COM https://www. ncbi nim nih gov/pmc/articles/PMC2884087/ — Source

16

Teeth

MYTH: HEALTHY TeeTH ARE GLEAMING WHITE. FACT: THE nATURAL COLOR FOR TeeTH IS YELLOW. You might think white teeth are attractive, but as far as being natural, they're the dental equivalent of fake breasts. The actual color of healthy human teeth is yellow. Know what's unhealthy? Whitening your teeth, either by bleaching or scouring off the enamel. See, tooth enamel is bluish- white. It's the dentin below the enamel that's yellow. CRACKED.COM http://www.sciencefocus.com/qa/are-yellow-teeth-stronger — Source

15

Metabolism

MYTH: THIN people HAVE A QUICK METABOLISM. FACT: THEY ACTUALLY HAVE A SLOWER one. The folks at the Mayo Clinic found out that, when you take weight into consideration, the metabolisms of over- and underweight people are the exact opposite of what we always heard: Thin people actually tend to have slower metabolisms than their heavier counterparts. It's because a heavier body actually needs a faster metabolism to get around. CRACKED.COM http://www.mayoclinic. org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/metabolism/art-20046508 — Source

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14

YOU WOULD USE CPR, NOT PADDLES, IF SOMEONE FLATLINED Defibrillation is used when someone is experiencing rapid heart contractions. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

DON'T SUCK VENOM OUT OF A BITE Sucking out poison can contaminate the wound and damage nerves or blood vessels. You may also harm yourself. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Neanderthal Intelligence

NEANDERTHALS WERE NOT DIM-WITTED. They were capable of complex thought, communication, and sophisticated technology. And they bred with modern humans. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

MOVIE SWORD FIGHTS WOULD END WITH BROKEN BLADES. Edge-on-edge parry would damage the swords, resulting in dull and damaged blades. Most sword fighting involves the swords not making contact. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

EXPLOSIONS IN SPACE ARE WAY LESS COOL Explosions that happen in space are much shorter, way less dramatic, and are silent, compared to movies. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Truth Serums

THERE'S NO TRUTH IN TRUTH SERUMS Any individual that can hold out in normal interrogation can hold out in a drugged- state, according to the CIA. If you trust them to tell us. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

This knocks out like half of Hollywood crime dramas

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Found fingerprints at the crime scene? Bingo! REALITY: There are no true consensus as to how and if fingerprint forensics really work. The precision and methodologies of fingerprint forensics have been questioned and opposed by a lot of experts (even entire countries). The claim that no two fingerprints are identical has still not been proven, but the error rate has. Point is that it's not an exact science, and shouldn't be believed to be. — Source

7

Mental Illness

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Mental illness and gun violence go hand in hand. REALITY: Incorrect. It's estimated that only 4% of all violent gun crimes involve mental illness. Yet the majority of Americans believe otherwise. Alcohol abuse and stress from getting a divorce or losing a job are way more likely to induce gun violence. Mental illness, however, is a great risk factor for gun suicides, and makes up the majority of gun-related deaths in the US. — Source

6

Your Right to Remain Silent

CRACKED.COM MYTH: If you get arrested, you can just remain silent and the cops must stop questioning you. REALITY: You have the right to remain silent, but you need to state it out loud. Rulings by the Supreme Court have stated that you must vocally assert this right. You can also state that you will remain silent until you have a lawyer present. — Source

5

Serial Killers

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Most serial killers had an abusive childhood. REALITY: A whopping 70% of serial killers reported no child abuse. These numbers might include individuals who don't want to admit experiencing a traumatic childhood, but that's still a pretty high number debunking the popular belief. Many of them did however report bed wetting, abusing animals, and setting things on fire. — Source

4

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Chloroform can knock you out in seconds. REALITY: Nope, try five minutes. While chloroform has been used in murder cases, it doesn't have an immediate effect on a damp cloth over one's face. It will take around five minutes to kick in, and there will be a lot of kicking from the victim. In real murder cases, victims were usually tricked into taking the anaesthetic, or giving drugs prior to getting chloroformed. — Source

3

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Bonnie and Clyde: The Legendary Bank Robbers. REALITY: They mostly robbed small grocery stores and gas stations. In the four years the Barrow gang targeted banks, they hit less than 15, didn't get away with much money, and a lot of times Bonnie stayed home and wasn't even involved. It was also easier to rob places with lower risk and quicker getaways. — Source

2

CRACKED.COM MYTH: State with the most serial killers? Must be Florida, or California. REALITY: It's Alaska. Proportional to its population, Alaska wins this one with around 15.65 serial killings per one million inhabitants. It's followed by Nevada, then Florida. Criminologists speculate that it might be due to the cover of darkness during those long Alaskan winter nights. The isolation of the state's remote locations might also play a part. — Source

1

Serial Killer Geniuses

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Serial killers are geniuses. REALITY It's mostly just the ones they make shows about. The latest studies put the average intelligence of serial killers barely above what's considered below average. One study puts it more clearly, saying that there is almost zero correlation between intelligence and psychopathy. — Source

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