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Is crop production truly so insufficient that millions could face starvation in the future? If you're on a plane struck by lightning, is death likely? Does herbicide use lead to resistant “super weeds”? Should you create a will before undergoing general anesthesia? Arachnids spin webs—right? Is it true that no one knows the fate of the Anasazi?
California’s fate is sealed: it’s set to sink into the ocean! Ninth-grade students and Harvard seniors both mistakenly believe that the Earth causes the moon's phases. If you want to know where a comet’s been, look at its tail. Forensic evidence is always reliable. These widespread beliefs are mind-boggling misconceptions. Here’s why.
10. The Growing Need for More Food Production
Despite some organizations warning that increased food production is essential to prevent widespread famine in the near future, this is not the case. Professor Hans Herren, President of the Millennium Institute, explains that the world’s food supply could sustain '14 billion people,' double the current population. According to the United Nations, the global population is expected to 'level off at around 10 billion,' meaning there’s already a significant food surplus.
Although a billion people still go hungry today, their suffering isn’t caused by a global shortage of food. Rather, it stems from economic and political inequality, as well as general disruptions, particularly war. Instead of focusing on food production, resilience, and maintenance, we should prioritize the care of the biosphere, human (and animal) welfare, freedom for all, and a commitment to absolute truth for both the present and the future.
9. Lightning Destroys Airplanes
A fear of flying, or aviophobia, is a real condition, not just a novel by Erica Jong. Individuals with this fear report experiencing high levels of anxiety during all stages of flight, including anticipation, boarding, in-flight, and landing. The greatest anxiety often occurs during take-off and when faced with bad weather or turbulence.
Should people with aviophobia be worried about thunderstorms? Not really. Airplanes do get struck by lightning during thunderstorms, but the odds of an aircraft being hit are much lower than people think. When a plane is struck, it doesn't fall from the sky in a fiery crash. Passengers are not electrocuted, and the plane does not crash. At worst, the flight crew might notice slight effects, or the aircraft may suffer some damage that requires minor maintenance.
To put it simply, here’s why passengers and crew are safe on planes even during thunderstorms: Lightning strikes send currents of up to 200,000 amperes through the plane’s frame, but the electricity follows the outer surface, exiting back into the air, possibly leaving small burn marks at entry and exit points. Apart from this, everything—and everyone—remains perfectly fine.
8. Herbicide Use Creates 'Super Weeds'
Over time, the repeated application of herbicides leads to the emergence of ‘super weeds’ that develop resistance to the very chemicals designed to eliminate them. At least, that’s a common misconception. While it’s true that some weeds may develop a level of resistance to herbicides, this adaptation doesn’t create ‘super weeds’ and certainly doesn’t happen without consequences.
Joe Armstrong, a field scientist at Corteva Agriscience, clarifies: 'A well-known case is the atrazine-resistant velvetleaf... While it’s resistant in both controlled greenhouses and fields, it carries a 'fitness penalty.' Resistant plants don’t grow as rapidly or as tall as the standard velvetleaf.'
Although herbicide resistance in plants is concerning, it’s a challenge that can be managed. Armstrong suggests that 'future resistance can be prevented' by implementing a comprehensive weed control strategy, which includes burndown, preemergence, and postemergence herbicides with residual control. Complementing these methods with tillage, crop rotation, and cover crops can further help address this issue.
7. Anesthesia Is Often Fatal or May Otherwise Go Awry
If you have a fear of undergoing general anesthesia, you're certainly not alone. A 2018 study found that 88% of 400 participants reported experiencing 'preoperative fear,' triggered by factors like 'preoperative pain,' the possibility of being conscious during surgery, the feeling of being 'sleepy' post-operation, 'revealing personal issues' while under anesthesia, or the fear of 'not waking up after surgery.' Women were found to be 'five times more likely to fear anesthesia' than men, and individuals aged 40 and above exhibited heightened fear compared to younger participants. Clearly, a significant portion of people are deeply anxious, even terrified, about undergoing general anesthesia, with many of them believing it could be fatal.
These fears surrounding the dangers of general anesthesia are largely unfounded. The occurrence of 'remaining aware during anesthesia' happens in less than 0.1% of general anesthesia cases. In fact, the risk of 'dying after surgery' has decreased to only one-tenth of what it was back in 1970. So, what are the chances of dying 'under general anesthesia'? It’s an incredibly rare 0.0001% chance, or about one in 100,000. The myth that general anesthesia is commonly fatal or prone to failure simply isn’t backed by the data.
6. Not All Arachnids Make Webs
It's widely assumed that arachnids create webs, but that’s a misconception. First off, arachnids aren't all spiders—many are scorpions, ticks, mites, harvestmen, or solifuges. Secondly, only certain species of spiders, and just one type of mite, the spider mite, actually spin webs.
A web, defined as a 'silk structure created to catch prey,' is spun by only around half of known spider species. Many other spiders, such as the wolf spider, jumping spider, ground spider, sac spider, and lynx spider, don't build webs but instead hunt for prey or, like trapdoor spiders and crab spiders, ambush it. Rather than using webs, these hunters utilize 'silk structures that are not webs,' such as the dragline (the single thread spiders leave behind when walking), egg sacs like those of the Araneine orbweaver, or retreat structures like the 'little silk house' made by jumping spiders.
5. The Anasazi Vanished Without Leaving Any Evidence
A common but inaccurate myth suggests that the Anasazi, also known as the ancient Pueblo people, mysteriously disappeared without a trace. This misunderstanding is one of the most “persistent” that archaeologists regularly confront. The Four Corners area, which includes parts of present-day southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, northern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico—the heart of Anasazi territory—was “deserted” between 1260 and 1300.
However, the emigrants did not vanish into thin air. Instead, they relocated, forging new homes and starting fresh lives alongside their friends, family, and other Pueblo communities to the east along the Rio Chama and Rio Grande, to the south in the Pueblos of Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna, and to the west with the Hopi.
4. California Is Destined to Sink into the Ocean
For years, people have been anticipating the moment when California will break away from the mainland United States and plunge into the sea. According to this belief, it's only a matter of time, as all that’s needed is a massive earthquake to trigger the inevitable rift.
One reason for this widespread misconception may lie in the fact that the general public is often unaware of the latest “advancements” that have taken place in the “relatively new science” of geology. As a result, they are more prone to believe in the sensational, yet misleading, scenarios depicted by Hollywood filmmakers in disaster films and other genres.
Why is it impossible for the Golden State to become a sunken island? The San Andreas fault itself prevents such a “drop” from happening. This fault results from the northwestward movement of the Pacific Plate “along the Northern Plate,” which causes most of southern California’s faults to “move roughly parallel to each other in opposite directions with minimal vertical shift.” Therefore, despite some vertical offset in the faults, it is insufficient to counteract the “horizontal effect” of their movement. As such, Californians need not fear their state sinking into the ocean.
However, Californians aren’t entirely safe. The land west of the right-lateral fault will gradually move northward along the coast, so that, at some point in the distant future, “Los Angeles will . . . be adjacent to San Francisco.” While California will remain intact, albeit in a different shape, the earthquake that leads to these shifts will still have “devastating effects.”
3. Forensic Evidence Is Unquestionably Reliable
Many people also believe that forensic evidence is infallible, but this is not the case. This misunderstanding likely arises from the way movies and TV shows portray such evidence. In reality, as noted in an article by the Microbiology Society, forensic science can “very rarely identify evidential material with absolute certainty or compare and ‘match’ two samples to the exclusion of all other possibilities.” Forensic evidence is rarely the pristine material seen in “CSI programmes.” Instead, it is typically “minute” in quantity and often “decomposed or damaged,” which can significantly limit its ability to prove guilt or innocence.
Trace evidence suspected of being “transferred between a suspect and a victim” presents considerable challenges: was the transfer “direct” from the suspect to the victim, or was it “indirect,” possibly passing through several intermediaries? Additionally, the suspect’s DNA might have been transferred to the victim’s hand during a handshake at a social gathering, and later, the victim could have transferred it to her own underwear during a trip to the restroom.
Numerous factors can undermine the value of forensic evidence, both in its investigation and analysis and in its presentation to the jury. The authors of the Microbiology Society article provide a detailed example of such challenges in relation to “the use of microbiology in crime investigation.”
For instance, a layperson might struggle to “visualize” such evidence, requiring “the forensic scientist . . . to explain to a jury with diverse educational backgrounds the fundamental nature of the microscopic evidence” in a way that is easily comprehended.
Moreover, the expert may need to clarify more abstract concepts like the “transfer and persistence of the particular evidence type,” as well as “issues like frequency and probability.” At any point in the process, the forensic scientist risks overwhelming the jury. This could lead to an acquittal or a mistrial due to a hung jury, which may, in certain countries, result in the costly need for another trial.
2. A Comet’s Tail Follows It
In images (and blockbuster films), the tail of a comet is often depicted as trailing behind it. This leads to the false impression that the tail extends in the direction from which the comet has come. In reality, a comet typically has two distinct tails.
A comet, which is a remnant from the formation of our solar system, consists of rock and ice. As the comet approaches the sun, the intense solar radiation causes part of it, its 'nucleus,' to vaporize. This results in the emission of a luminous cloud of dust and gas, forming a 'comma' around the nucleus. As the comet draws closer to the sun, its tails emerge, 'expelled from the...nucleus by the solar wind.'
The first tail, a stream of ionized particles, 'always points directly at the sun,' while the second tail, made up of dust, is less influenced by the solar wind and 'curves back somewhat, toward the comet’s path.'
As the comet completes its orbit around the sun and heads back toward 'the edges of the universe,' its tail extends 'directly away from the sun' and is, in fact, positioned ahead of the comet.
1. The Phases of the Moon Are Caused by the Earth
In the 1980s, graduating seniors at Harvard University shared the same misunderstanding about the cause of the moon’s phases as ninth-grade students at a nearby school. Both groups mistakenly believed that the moon’s phases were caused by the Earth’s shadow, a misconception that is also common among some members of the general public.
Thankfully, we don't need Harvard to explain why the moon has phases. Dr. Barbara Cohen, a planetary scientist at NASA, clarifies that the phases of the moon are due to the varying amounts of sunlight reflected off the moon as it orbits the Earth and rotates.
A 'new moon' is invisible to us because the sunlight is shining on the side of the moon that faces away from the Earth. A 'full moon' appears circular because sunlight illuminates its entire surface. In between these phases, the moon goes through 'waxing' and 'waning' phases. As the moon waxes, it reflects more sunlight, seeming to grow larger, until it becomes a gibbous 'half-moon.' Afterward, the moon wanes, reflecting less and less sunlight until it reaches a full moon again. The moon appears as a crescent when it reflects the least amount of sunlight.
