5 Common Misconceptions About

Science

July 6th, 2023

By Aswirbaad Das,

Image source: Tenor

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Science can be a difficult subject to understand, especially with so many false facts and theories floating around! Let us debunk a few common misconceptions we may have had about science.

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Contrary to popular belief, the sun is a mixture of all colours, which appears white as a whole! It only shows orange, yellow or red hues when its short-wavelength colours (violet, green and blue of the VIBGYOR spectrum) are scattered out by the Earth’s atmosphere during sunrise, noon and sunset.

The Sun is Yellow

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You will be left scratching your head knowing humans did not evolve from monkeys, chimpanzees or any other great apes of today! Instead, we share a common ancestor that lived roughly 10 million years ago. It is only because we branched out differently as homo sapiens that we are different.

Humans Evolved From Monkeys

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The notion that the tongue is mapped into four areas–sweet at the tip, salty at the sides, sour behind it and bitter at the end–is wrong, although certain parts are more sensitive to certain tastes! This ‘tongue map’ misconception was created in 1901 by German scientist David P. Hänig.

Different Parts of the Tongue Taste Different Flavours

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioural challenges. It was believed that vaccinations were responsible for causing this, but thankfully, several studies conducted over the years proved it wrong!

Vaccines Cause Autism

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The truth is, humans easily use over 10% of their brains for most everyday tasks! But it is not even close to 100%. Activating 100% of the brain at once can actually lead to fatal seizures instead of harnessing its ‘full abilities’.

Humans Only Use 10% of Their Brain

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