The 300 Spartans.
King Leonidashttps://www.crossfiti35.com/crossfit-i35-kettlebell-wod-4115/
We've all seen the movie about King Leonidas holding off thousands of Persian men. in a brave feat of bravado and heroism, the men walk to their doom but taking with them as many heads as possible. This story, however, is far from the truth. The reality is more that there were about 7000 Spartans. However, this does not take away from the gravity of the fight because they still had to fight about 150000 Persian men.
Bulls hate the color red.
Bull fight in Spainhttps://www.kyma.com/news/national-world/spanish-matador-dies-after-being-gored-in-bullfight/549573474
When we think of a bullfight, we see a matador waving a red blanket and a bull really being aggravated by the color and attacking the man. In reality, the bulls are only aggravated by the motion of the flag more than the color. In addition, the bullfight is more gruesome than they appear. The whole point of the bullfight is to ultimately kill the bull by poking it in the spine with a sword.
Left and right brain dichotomy.
Art depicting left and right functions https://www.healthline.com/health/left-brain-vs-right-brain
In psychology there are many peculiar phenomena, however, one erroneous "fact" Is the belief that the left brain is smart, and the right is imaginative. Although we have specialization of some task (language on the left), the brain operates in a bilateral fashion. That is to say, both sides of the brain are always working for every task.
Dropping a penny from the Empire State Building.
Penny falling on man's head https://deakincomsci2016.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/myth-dropping-a-penny-from-a-tall-building-will-kill-someone/
Contrary to popular belief, dropping a coin from the empire state building would never have enough momentum to cause any true damage. This is due to something called terminal velocity, the maximum speed a falling object can reach on earth. Fortunately, the terminal velocity of a penny does not allow to cause any true injury.
Polygraphs for lie detection.
Man giving a polygraph exam https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/criminal-law/what-is-a-polygraph/
Because of the television, the general public tends to believe that lies can be caught using a lie detector or polygraph. However, a lie detector test only picks up body changes like heart rate and breathing. Anyone in a stressful situation will have increased heart rates, leading to a lot of false positive.
10 Percent of our Brain.
Limitless https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219289/
I remember watching the movie Limitless and Lucy and thinking, why don't we use 10 percent of our brains. Am I only at 10 percent of my intellectual capacity, maybe one day I will find something that will unlock this potential. Sadly enough, this notion is both pseudo-scientific and erroneous. After looking at fMRI scans of the brain, scientist were able to debunk this myth. It turns out the whole brain is always activated; however, depending on the task bestowed upon the participants during the scan, different areas of the brain will have more selective activation.
Sugar and Hyperactive Kids
Kid eating candyhttps://deakincomsci2016.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/sugar-makes-kids-hyper/
Look bad when you were a kid, you've most likely heard your parents saying " stop drinking so much sugar, you'll be too hyper"; or maybe you've said those words to younger siblings. Although a great method to monopolize all of the soft drinks in the house, this sadly holds no scientific standing. It's believed that the increased in energy derives the potential caffeine in these soft drinks. Like coke per example.
