Popular beliefs examined with primary sources — and found to be completely false.
Some of the most confidently repeated "facts" are myths. The brain myth, the goldfish memory myth, the lightning myth — each has been circulating for decades despite being directly contradicted by peer-reviewed research. Every page here includes the primary source, the actual science, and the exact origin of the wrong belief.
False. You use virtually all of your brain, continuously. Brain imaging studies using fMRI and PET scans show …
False. Goldfish can retain memories for months, not seconds. Controlled studies have trained goldfish to opera…
False. The Great Wall of China cannot be seen by the naked eye from low Earth orbit. At its widest, the wall i…
False. No scientific study has found a causal link between knuckle cracking and arthritis. The most famous sel…
False. Lightning routinely strikes the same location many times. The Empire State Building is struck by lightn…
False. Reading in dim light causes temporary eye strain and fatigue, but no clinical evidence shows it causes …
False. Napoleon was approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall (170 cm), which was average for a French man of his era…
False. There is no scientific evidence that humans routinely swallow spiders in their sleep, and multiple biol…
False. Cattle are red-green colorblind (dichromats) and cannot distinguish red from green. Bulls in bullfighti…
False. Humans have far more than five senses. Depending on how strictly you define a "sense," modern neuroscie…
The claim that humans only use 10% of their brain. Brain imaging studies confirm all brain regions are active during normal daily life.
No. Research at Plymouth University showed goldfish can retain memories for months, not seconds.
No. The wall is at most 9 meters wide — far too narrow to be resolved by the naked eye from orbital altitude.