Society & Politics

4 Modern Day Misconceptions (and why they exist)

1. Carrots Don't Improve Your Eyesight


This was made up completely on a whim by the Brittish back in WWII. Why? Britain had cracked the encrypted Nazi comunication network Enigma thanks to Alan Turing. Unfortunatley (or fortunatley depending on how you look at it) Alan Turing relized that if Nazi camps, ships, etc... got bombed to all hell they would realize that Enigma was intercepted and would scrap the whole system. Therefore Alan and his team had the brutal job of playing God and literally calculated how many Nazis could be "randomly" bombed without the Nazis becoming suspicious. The reason British bombers suddenly became far more accurate than Nazi bombers? They had carrots in their rations which improved their eyesight allowing them to spot enemy camps from the sky. British Inteligence was so effective at spreading that rumor that people believe it to this day (and carrots became one of the most popular vegitables in the world.)

4 Modern Day Misconceptions (and why they exist)


2. Humans Don't Use Only 10% of Their Brains


This is a popular misconception that stuck around mainly due to Hollywood writing stories about people unlocking more than 10% of their brains (the most recent example being Lucy.) However, humans, just like every other animal on the planet, use their whole brain, just not all at the same time. The 10% BS started when doctors found cases of people surviving despite losing large chunks of their brain and therefore theorized that not all of the brain was being used. In reality the brain is broken up into multiple sections so hypothetically you could lose every part of your brain except the part that controls the basic functions of your body and still be alive.

4 Modern Day Misconceptions (and why they exist)


3. Humans Didn't Evolve From Monkeys


I don't really know how relevent this misconception is because I personally was never taught this in school but some of my friends insist that their biology techers told them this lie in High School. Humans and monkeys share a common ancestor so their relation to each other is more of a distannt cousins than a father-son relationship. I would assume the origin of this is just an initially misconception by a news article or textbook but feel free to share if you've actually been taught this.

4 Modern Day Misconceptions (and why they exist)


4. Vitamin C Does Not Increase Your Immune System


This misconception is definitly debatable but so far there have been no studies that can accuratley link Vitamin C to a stronger immue system. This all started when a couple companies decided to sell people a vitamin at a marked up rate and advertise that this vitamin (which is surprisingly easy to obtain) was the secret to never getting sick again. Now of course you may ask why they are allowed to advertise something that isn't true, and this is where it get's debatable. Technically what the companies advertise is not true so much as not wrong. This is because humans do need Vitamin C, so by getting the right amount of it you would overall have a healthier body thereby decreasing your chances of getting sick (the opposite effect happens if you don't get enough.) If you're confused I guess my best comparison would be Vitamin C protects you from sickness about as much as drinking water. You should focus on getting the right amount to stay healthy all year round instead of eating a jar of gummy vitamins in the winter to try and fight off the cold and flu.

4 Modern Day Misconceptions (and why they exist)

4 Modern Day Misconceptions (and why they exist)
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