We have all grown up hearing things like chewing gum takes seven years to digest. But in the end we find out that it was just a total nonsense. Here are a few myths and rumors that we thought were true, along with logical explanations as to why they are not.
1. Hair grows thicker after a shave
Okay. I can’t blame you for believing this because the hair does appear to be thicker due to the blunt tip after it is shaved. But, in reality, shaving does not in any way cause the hair to re-grow thicker. Growth of hair is from hair follicles located deep in our skin. Shaving merely removes the hair on the surface, not affecting the hair follicles in anyway. If only this myth was true, we wouldn’t have to worry about bald patches ever!
2. We use 10% of our brain
It is often heard that human use only 10% of their brain. This is totally untrue. Human utilize different parts of the brain for different tasks. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) show how electrical energy is distributed throughout the brain and it surely uses way more than 10%. We may not be using the entire brain at any given time, but no part is left unused.
3. Eye floater is dirt in the eye
Weird shapes that we see floating around in front of our eye that seems to follow where ever we look, yeah those are eye floater- Duh! But they are not some dirt particles in our eyes. Eyes are filled with fluid called aqueous humor and vitreous humor. Sometimes proteins (normally present in our blood circulation) can leak into the aqueous humor. This leaked protein (and rarely blood cells) cast a shadow on the back of our eyes, due to which we see weird shapes in our vision. It is totally normal and nothing to worry about
4. Human are equipped with 5 senses
Not true! Humans have many senses. Apart from hearing, vision, taste, pain, we have many different senses such as proprioception (sense of position), sense of balance, fine touch, two touch point discrimination, sense of vibration and many more. The senses can total up to 21 different types!
5. Going out in winter makes you catch cold
While it is true that cold weather compromises our immunity a little but common cold is caused by a virus (rhino virus) which has no correlation with cold weather. In fact, staying indoor increases the chances of catching cold due to higher chances of person to person transfer.
6. Snapping fingers can cause arthritis
No studies so far prove that snapping fingers can cause arthritis. The source of produced noise is still not completely understood, but recent studies suggests that pulling fingers produces small vacuum space within the joint capsule (synovial joint) popping of which produ