MYTHS
Prepare to be shocked and amazed as we reveal the truth behind 3O commonly held beliefs that are, in fact, completely wrong! By Sarah Hampton. Illustrations by Andy Smith
quacks don’t echo. 1 Duck
Wrong! A duck’s quack is usually quite quiet, and so its echo can be tricky to hear. But in 2003 a team of researchers at the University of Manchester in England placed a duck named Daisy in a special chamber and recorded both her quacks and their echoes.
and nails continue to grow after death. 2 Hair Wrong! After death, the skin dries out and shrinks, pulling it away from the hair and nails. This can give the impression that the hair and nails have become longer after death. But they definitely haven’t grown.
A goldfish only has a three-second 3 memory. Wrong! In fact, fish have relatively good memories and have been taught by scientists to recognise the presence of their owners and remember the way out of underwater mazes. To find out more clever things that fish can do, turn to Ask the Experts on page 35. 16
no gravity in space. 4 There’s
Wrong! Gravity is the force of attraction between every object in the universe that contains matter (i.e. everything). So gravity is everywhere, even in space. The reason that astronauts float in space is that they are further away from the Earth, so its gravitational pull on their bodies is weaker than it is when they are standing on the ground. People sometimes call this feeling of weightlessness in space ‘zero gravity’ but the correct term is microgravity.
Aeroplanes get rid of toilet waste by 5dumping it in mid-air. Wrong! The toilet tanks on aeroplanes, which hold the passengers’ wee and poo during the flight, can only be emptied when the plane is on the ground, usually using a lever that is on the outside of the plane. However, the toilets in some early trains
did flush directly onto the tracks while the train was moving!
6 Bats are blind.
Wrong! Bats do use a system called echolocation to navigate, in which the bat sends out sound waves and listens for the echoes to bounce off things. However, bats can also see.
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MYTHS
Pyramids viewed from space
places more likely to be struck again. Skyscrapers, for example, are more likely to be struck than shorter buildings – but don’t worry, they have built-in lightning rods to make sure no damage is done to the building.
The Great Wall of China 16 is the only man-made object visible from space.
Wrong! This myth appeared in several books in the 19th Century before humans were able to travel into space to check if it was true. It’s not. Lots of manmade structures are visible from space including the Pyramids of Giza.
charge when they see the colour red. 9 Bulls Wrong! This myth is connected to the tradition of Spanish bullfighting, where matadors twirl a red cape in front of the bull. However, bulls are colour-blind to red. Studies suggest that it is the quick movement of the cape, rather than its colour, that causes the bull to charge.
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Wrong! In fact, there is sometimes a significant attraction between lightning bolts and a place they have previously hit, making these
having a nosebleed.
Wrong! In fact, doctors advise you to do the opposite: tilt your head forwards, pinch your nostrils shut and breathe through your mouth for about 10 minutes or until the bleeding has stopped.
while they’re asleep.
Wrong! A rooster will often start the day with a cock-a-doodle-do but it also crows at other times, to scare away predators and rival roosters, and to communicate with its flock of hens.
Lightning never strikes twice in 8 the same place.
You should tilt your head 17 backwards if you are
On average, humans swallow 1O eight spiders per year
only crow at dawn. 7 Roosters
Wrong! It can happen, but it’s very unlikely that a spider would want to jump into your mouth while you’re asleep any more than it would while you’re awake. While sleeping, a human’s breathing (or snoring) and beating heart create vibrations through the body that would scare off most spiders.
A bolt of lightning is hotter than the surface of the Sun!
11 Turkeys can’t fly. Wrong! They don’t usually travel further than 90 metres at a time but
turkeys can fly at speeds of more than 50 miles per hour.
Earwigs lay their eggs inside 12 people’s ears. Wrong! Despite the name, earwigs prefer to lay their eggs in moist soil or under the bark of trees.
Above: the Pyramids of Giza are among the many man-made objects visible from space.
When they’re threatened, 18 ostriches hide by burying their heads in the sand.
Wrong! Ostriches can’t nest in trees, so instead they dig holes in the ground for their eggs. They do stick their heads into the holes to move their eggs around, which is probably where the myth started.
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photo, left). And the pressure released by a sneeze builds up in the blood vessels, not the eyes or the muscles surrounding them.
are afraid of mice. 15 Elephants
Water drains in sinks and 13 toilets in one direction
18
are startled by mice, but they’re not scared of them.
in the northern hemisphere and in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere.
the northern hemisphere. But this force is too small to act on the small amount of water in toilets, sinks and baths, which can drain in both directions in both hemispheres.
Wrong! The Coriolis effect, which is caused by Earth’s rotation, causes hurricanes to spin in different directions, clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in
If you sneeze with your eyes open your 14 eyeballs will pop out.
Wrong! Some people used to think that mice liked to crawl into elephants’ trunks, causing them to sneeze. But they don’t. Plus an elephant’s eyesight is so weak it could barely see a mouse anyway. It’s possible that elephants
Wrong! Keeping your eyes open while sneezing is tricky to do because an automatic reflex tries to close them (as in the 19
MYTHS
People in Europe thought the world was flat until 25 Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in 1492.
Wrong! Some people in the 15th Century did believe the Earth was flat. However lots of mathematicians and scientists alive at the time thought that it was round. In fact, several ancient thinkers and philosophers wrote about the idea of the Earth being round almost 2,000 years before Columbus set sail.
howl at the Moon. 21 Wolves
Left: wolves howling at night (but not specifically at the Moon).
Wrong! Wolves do howl at night but simply because they’re most active then.
You can tell a ladybird’s age 22 by counting its spots. Wrong! There are more than 5,000 species of ladybird and the number of spots on their wing cases varies from none to more than 20. If ladybirds did gain an extra spot each year most would only have one or two because they rarely live longer than two years.
23 Continued from previous page
carry water in their humps. 19 Camels Wrong! Their humps store fat instead, allowing a camel to survive for days in the desert without eating any food.
All bees die after inflicting 2O a single sting. Wrong! This is true of honey bees but not of other species, including bumble bees. 20
core is molten. 24 Earth’s
Wrong! The Earth has a solid inner core made from the metals iron and nickel. This solid core is a bit smaller than the Moon and as hot as the surface of the Sun.
Wrong! We think of sharks as being among the most fearsome and deadly creatures on Earth. But, on average, they only kill 10 human beings a year. In contrast, 500 people are killed on average by hippopotamuses and 50,000 by snakes. The deadliest animal of all is the mosquito, which kills hundreds of thousands of people every year because of the infectious diseases it carries, including malaria.
Your stomach is positioned behind 28 your belly button.
Vikings wore horned helmets.
Wrong! In the 19th Century, archaeologists found several ancient horned helmets at several sites around Europe. However, the helmets were too old to have belonged to the Vikings who first appeared in the 8th Century. These horned helmets from other ancient European cultures inspired the idea that Vikings wore horned helmets too, and people have believed the myth ever since.
Sharks kill hundreds of 27 people every year.
Owls can spin their reads round 3O a full 36O degrees. Wrong! Although it’s easy to see from the photo below how this myth got started. Owls can certainly spin their heads a long way – about 270 degrees at full rotation.
Below: owls have superb eyesight and amazingly flexible necks, which help them to spot their prey.
Wrong! The stomach is higher up inside your body, behind your ribs.
a cat purrs, that means 29 When it’s happy. Porcupines fire their 26 quills at predators. Wrong! When threatened, porcupines do often try to defend themselves by shaking their quill-covered tails. And their quills also detach easily. They do this so that even if a predator only brushes the porcupine’s quills lightly, they will still come off and get stuck in the attacker’s body.
Wrong! Cats do sometimes purr when they’re content. But they also purr when they’re hungry, unhappy or recovering from injury. Scientists think that the low frequency of a cat’s purr may work as a self-healing mechanism that improves the strength and health of its bones. 21
ARTICLE ACTIVITY – FOR TEACHERS
Myth-busting fact file – the truth behind the myth! LO: To develop understanding of how to approach a research task LO: To develop understanding of how to create research questions LO: To understand more about a selected topic and how to create a fact file for it Overview
Children are invited to create a fact file of the truth behind a ‘myth’ of their choice, exploring their chosen topic area through research. They will develop understanding of how to plan research, find information and present it in a fact file. This cross-curricular activity can support learning in all subjects depending on the ‘myth’ children decide to research. It can also support: Literacy and language Information literacy
Activities include:
Brainstorm activity Question writing activity Fact file creation
You will need:
Pens The worksheets The fact file template
Children could work independently, or in pairs or groups. It is suggested that children select their own area to research, but teachers could give a selection of areas to choose from or allocate topics if preferable. To support children engaging effectively, teachers could run a practice brainstorm and question activity as a group. Once the class have completed their fact files, these could be used to create a display. Don’t forget to share their work on social media and tag Britannica Magazine. We’d love to see it! Facebook: @britannicamagazine Instagram: @britannicamagazine Twitter: @britannicamag #BritannicaMag The ultimate magazine for curious young minds!
Join the myth-busters! In ‘3O MYTHS BUSTED!’ you read all about amazing things that people think are true – but actually are not! Now you’re going to be a myth-buster and find out the truth behind the myth, discovering more about one of the myths featured in the magazine article. Now you know that wolves DON’T howl at the Moon, what else can you find out about them? If Vikings didn’t wear horned helmets, what DID they wear? Our eyes DON’T pop out when we sneeze, but WHY do we sneeze? Lightning can strike twice, but WHAT makes it strike in the first place?!
What will you choose?
When you’re doing research it’s great to choose something new, that perhaps you don’t know anything about. Or you may want to build your knowledge about something you already know a bit about and are really interested in.
How to start myth-busting
Information is everywhere! Your teacher or school librarian will be able to help you go to the right places to find it, such as: An encyclopedia Books in the classroom Books in the school library
The internet
Think about what you already know and what you want to find out about your chosen topic. A good way to do this is to ‘brainstorm’ your ideas. Write the name of your topic in the middle of the brainstorm sheet – so if you are interested in myth number 1O, about spiders, write ‘spiders’. On one side write down the things you know about your topic and one the other side, write down the things you would like to find out. See the example below to help you:
What I know They have eight legs Make webs Catch flies
My Topic Spiders
What I want to find out Other body parts Where they live Other food Types of spider
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Now, using the information in your brainstorm, can you write some questions to help you decide what to look for in books and online? These are called research questions. Remember to use questions words to help you:
Who what when where how why
For example How many different types of spiders are there? Where do spiders live? What do they eat? When do they sleep? Why do they make webs? Now it’s your turn – use the brainstorm space below to complete a brainstorm about your chosen topic.
What I know
My Topic
What I want to find out
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Let’s get myth-busting!
Now you’re ready to start looking for information. Whether you are using books or the internet, you can use your questions as a guide to help you. Don’t forget to: make notes in the space below about what you find out, especially anything that is really interesting or exciting. When you have finished, you can use your notes to create your fact file, using the template provided. Choose the most interesting facts to include, as well as a picture or diagram too.
My myth-busting notes
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My myth-busting fact file
My Topic My 5 facts 1 2 3 4 5
Star fact