Can you tell me something I always knew wrongly?

Author: Shubham S.M. Sharma

Men don't think about sex every seven seconds

Men think about sex plenty: according to popular myth, they think about sex every seven seconds. If you tell men that, they might even answer "That sounds about right."

Unfortunately, the closest anyone can get to a real statistic is that men fantasize about sex at least once a day. Then again, maybe only 54% of men do that. Face-to-face sex surveys are unreliable in uncovering the true number, and its not clear if this number will ever be truly quantifiable.

Either way, the seven seconds myth probably overstates the frequency of this event.

Let’s start real

1.Humans did not evolve from chimpanzees

Skeptics of evolution might say there's no way humans evolved from chimps -- and they would be right.

A misunderstanding of evolutionary theory has given way to the idea that humans came from modern-day primates. Actually, both humans and chimps are said to have evolved from a common ancestor. Millions of years ago, this ancestor split into two separate lineages, eventually becoming apes (like chimps and gorillas) and hominids, the precursor to human beings.

Hence our close relation to, but not evolution from, modern day chimps.

2.We do not use just 10% of our brains

This myth, particularly popular among psychics, is widespread and has been used in advertising campaigns and popular culture for years. And while only a small number of our brain's neurons are actively firing at any one moment, that doesn't mean the rest of our brain is just sitting around.

Brain imaging research shows that just about all of our brain is used over the course of a day. Brain function isn't extremely localized: different parts of the brain handle different functions, and this is spread throughout the brain -- there is no 90% of unused gray matter lying around up there.

3.Dogs don't sweat by salivating

Some people think that dogs sweat through their tongue -- that when you see them panting, drooling, that's like a human dripping with sweat.

In truth, dogs have sweat glands all over their body. They sweat primarily through their footpads When they are panting, they are helping to regulate body temperature, much like we do.

4.Bulls are not enraged by the colour red

The matadors of Spain -- and anywhere else, for that matter -- wave red capes in an effort to enrage bulls for entertainment purposes. People have since drawn the conclusion that the colour must anger the bull.

But bulls are colour blind. Being dichromats, it isn't the colour of the cape that bothers them, but the movement of the fabric. This incites the bull to charge.

5.Hair and nails do not continue to grow after death

Somewhere along the way, a rumor was started that hair and nails continue to grow after death -- leading to nightmares worldwide of opened caskets featuring foot-long fingernails and mountains of hair.

Hair and nails only look like they have grown after death. The skin around these areas begins to lose water and shrink, giving the hair and nails the appearance of having grown. The fact is, when you're dead, not much is going to be happening growth-wise.

6.The Great Wall of China is not visible from space

Though the Great Wall is, admittedly, pretty big (it runs for over 1,500 miles), there's no way you can see this structure from space.

You can't even see the Great Wall from low orbit. No astronauts have reported seeing human-made objects from space. Although this statement was probably hyperbole made to explain how enormous the Wall is, the fact remains: you can't see the wall after clearing 180 miles of atmosphere.

On the contrary, it's the little things that you can spot, like city lights at night.

7.Dropping a penny from the Empire State Building is not deadly

Field trips to the Empire State Building are almost always accompanied by this warning: don't drop a penny off the top. Even a penny can kill a person from here.

A falling penny's terminal velocity maxes out at 50 miles per hour. As seen on the show Mythbusters, a penny won't pick up enough speed to crack a human skull. Wind resistance makes this impossible event even more unlikely. The worst case scenario from a penny dropped from a great height is a slight sting.

8. Alcohol does not make you warmer

Drunk co-eds will attest that they are able to walk around in the dead of winter in only a t-shirt or a skirt, provided they keep drinking. Same goes for skiers on the mountain tops.

Sadly, while alcohol may make one feel warmer, drinking actually makes us colder over time.

Alcohol dilates our blood vessels, forcing our blood closer to the surface of our skin and closer to the nerve receptors -- that's the feeling part. The reality sets in when cold air steals this heat, which originally was stored safely in our cores. Hypothermia may ensue.

9.Goldfish actually have long memory spans

The play Dying Goldfish features a line of dialogue that helps propagate this common myth: "A goldfish has a memory of only thirty seconds, so when it’s dying it thinks it’s been dying all its life." Some even thought the goldfish memory span to last only several seconds.

In reality, goldfish have a memory span of up to three months. They can be taught to follow a routine and can tell time. Even high school students have gotten in on the action of disproving this myth.

10.Waking sleepwalkers does not harm them

As seen in various films and TV shows, waking a sleepwalker can lead to disastrous (or, depending on the film, hilariously disastrous) results.

But waking a sleepwalker from their dream will leave them momentarily disoriented or confused, that's all. There is no real danger in waking them up. In fact, sleepwalkers can sustain injuries if they continue to walk around. You'll be doing them a favour or by shaking them out of it.

THAT'S LIFE!

Source: Latest News on Tech, Careers & Jobs, Finance, Money, Politics, Life & Strategy

View the original story on Quora.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hmm. Seems like there were a lot of things I didn't know. I always used to believe that dogs sweat through their tongues, but they actually sweat through their feet? Interesting!

Sponsor your Quora answer on this blog.