This article was written by Jennifer Banks.
Science seems to be forever misunderstood (like Disney villains, come on…as an adult you definitely identify more with the villains!). Communicating science can be difficult and fact and fiction can easily find themselves intertwined.
It’s difficult to know exactly where misconceptions in science come from. Science is fluid and constantly changing, so some may be based in previous knowledge that we now know to be false. Others from myth and legend, cultural or religious beliefs that develop over time, passed through generations to become firmly held beliefs.
In a society who now turn their every question to the internet, it’s important that the scientific community fill it with pathways and signposts to accurate and (I cannot stress this enough!) referenced information. In doing so we should then be able to avoid fake news and a seemingly never ending supply of Susans who have all the answers… we see you Susan.
So here are 10 common science misconceptions we hope to debunk.
1. The Dark Side of the Moon
Unless you are talking about the 1973 studio album by Pink Floyd, the dark side of the moon doesn’t actually exist. When referring to the Earth’s only natural satellite, the dark side of the moon is a misnomer, mainly because it isn’t actually dark. To explain why this is the case we need to understand the orbit of our moon and a phenomenon called tidal locking.
Tidal locking means that the orbit of a celestial body and the rotation on its axis are the same length. For us, our moons’ orbit and rotation take roughly a month therefore the same half of the moon is visible from earth at all times. Actually we see just over half due to the slight wobble of its rotation. This has created the mystery surrounding the part of the moon that we cannot see and the assumption that because we can’t see it, it must be in darkness.
This is completely untrue. The reason we can see the moon at all is because it reflects the light from the sun. Much like earth half of the moon is illuminated at all times. Throughout the month the amount of this half we can see changes, appearing to change the shape of the moon in our sky. This is what we call the moon phases. So only when there is a full moon is the other half in complete darkness.
For this reason scientists call the side of the moon we can’t see the far side of the moon and not the dark side.
2. The North Star is the Brightest Star in the Night Sky
This is a big one. Most people seem to think that our North Star is the brightest star in the night sky. It’s actually the 46th brightest star which doesn’t make it any easier to find. In fact the accolade of brightest star goes to Sirius, a star found in the constellation Canis Major, or big dog (one for the Harry Potter fans).
Our North Star gets its name from being the star that sits above our magnetic North Pole. If you could watch the stars move as the earth spins, the north star would remain stationary and the others would appear to move around it.
Polaris is the brightest star in its constellation, Ursa Minor (little bear) which may go some way to explaining the confusion. We can find the North Star by using signpost stars, an asterism in the constellation Ursa Major (Big bear). You may know this asterism as le casserole, the Big Dipper or more commonly the plough. Using the plough to draw a line through the sky will lead you directly to Polaris (the big bear finds the little bear…cute).
To make matters more confusing Polaris hasn’t always been and will not always be our North Star. The Earth’s rotation has a slight wobble, a movement called precession. Our pole draws a circle in the sky over 26,000 years, thus changing the star above the pole. Polaris will continue to be the North Star for the rest of our lifetimes and a few centuries on top of that. The star which will succeed Polaris is Errai, found in the aptly named constellation Cepheus the king.
So the next time you are lost at sea and trying to find your way north, it’s worth remembering the brightest star will lead you in the entirely wrong direction.
3. Memory Like A Goldfish
Goldfish actually have great memory encoding, storage and recall abilities. Researchers from Plymouth University were able to train goldfish to pull a lever to release food. Much like the classic lab rat, the fish were able to press the lever to release food in a particular part of the tank. The researchers then reduced the availability of the food from continuous to only one hour per day. Unbelievably the fish were able to remember which hour of the day to feed. Researchers noticed a large spike in activity around the lever at the beginning of the hour and a large decline at the end of the hour. This behaviour was noted even after several months had passed.
Scientists are now training fish in open waters to return to a particular area for feeding when they hear a particular noise. After a month of conditioning training the fish are released into the sea and continue to return to a set area for feeding. Scientists hope that this means the fish also display more natural foraging behaviours in addition to their daily feeds. In doing so they hope to reduce the use of physical cages thus reducing the environmental impact of fishing on the area.
So fish aren’t as forgetful as we once thought and definitely don’t have a three second memory… I said fish don’t have three second… never mind.
Gee, P., Stephenson, D., & Wright, D. E. (1994). Temporal discrimination learning of operant feeding in goldfish (Carassius auratus). Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 62(1), 1-13.
Björn Björnsson, Fish aggregating sound technique (FAST): how low-frequency sound could be used in fishing and ranching of cod, ICES Journal of Marine Science, Volume 75, Issue 4, July-August 2018, Pages 1258–1268, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsx251
4. Evolution is Just A Theory
Scientific and religious communities have battled over the creation of the earth for millennia. Darwin’s theory of evolution is a pillar of the scientific argument. This however is often thrown back as ‘just a theory.’ Looking at this more closely, it becomes an argument, not about the content but over semantics.
The word ‘theory’ comes from the Greek word theoria meaning ‘to look at’ or ‘to view.’ This later morphed to mean ‘contemplative’ or ‘understanding of natural things.’ Language is ever changing and this word in particular is used in different ways by different groups.
In science, the word is used to describe a body of work that explains a particular phenomenon widely accepted by the scientific community. It can then be used to explain and validate other theories. Whereas in the philosophical sense, the word theory is taken to mean an idea. Something in which we either cannot or have not been able to prove. Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection has been supported by so much evidence since its publication in 1859 that it has become almost beyond contestation.
Darwin, C. (1964). On the origin of species: A facsimile of the first edition (Vol. 49). Harvard University Press.
5. Lizards Are Modern-Day Dinosaurs
It’s easy to look at our snakes and lizards alive today and assume that they are long distant cousins of the dinosaurs. Actually to find the closest living relatives to the dinosaurs we must look to the skies. That’s right: birds. Our feathered friends are descendants of the oldest known bird species the Archaeopteryx, alive around 150 million years ago. These dinosaurs looked very different to the birds we know today. They had teeth and a long boned tail, but most importantly they had feathers.
In 1998, Chinese scientists found the first ever specimen with fossilised feathers, along with many other previously undiscovered species. These discoveries meant scientists could piece together the ancestral line, from Archaeopteryx to birds alive today. The overwhelming amount of evidence (feathers and skeletal similarities) put no question in scientists’ minds that birds are the closest living relatives of the dinosaurs.
So you may ask why dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park movies don’t have feathers. Filmmakers believed this sudden change from previous movies would be confusing to their viewers, ruining the continuity of the franchise. Plus they do become a bit less terror-inducing if you think of them as big angry chickens.
Qiang, J., Currie, P. J., Norell, M. A., & Shu-An, J. (1998). Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China. Nature, 393(6687), 753.
Baron, M. G., Norman, D. B., & Barrett, P. M. (2017). A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinosaur evolution. Nature, 543(7646), 501-506.
Haggard. V. (2019) The dinosaurs that didn’t die. National Geographic. Retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2019/02/these-are-dinosaurs-didnt-die
6. Venous Blood is Blue
This one is a completely understandable mistake to make. For one, most reference images for human hearts represent the blood flow with two colours (red and blue). This is primarily to distinguish between oxygenated blood (with oxygen) depicted in red and deoxygenated blood (without oxygen) depicted in blue. This makes the resulting image much easier to understand and a little more aesthetic too.
Secondly, the veins carrying this deoxygenated blood appear green or blue through our skin. This is due to how our eyes perceive light. What we see is dependent on which colours from the spectrum are bounced back into our eyes and which are absorbed by the tissues. A lot of the red light is scattered in the tissues so is not reflected back by the blood. The blue light, however, is reflected, so we perceive our veins as blue.
This leads people to the inaccurate assumption that the blood itself is blue. Even going so far as to say it only turns red once mixing with the oxygen in the air. Human blood is never blue, only red and darker red depending on the oxygen levels. Interestingly, blue blood has been found to occur in the animal kingdom, with some species of octopus having a protein in their blood which turns it bright blue.
Kienle, A., Lilge, L., Vitkin, I. A., Patterson, M. S., Wilson, B. C., Hibst, R., & Steiner, R. (1996). Why do veins appear blue? A new look at an old question. Applied Optics, 35(7), 1151-1160.
Arnold, C. (2015). In animal kingdom, blood comes in a rainbow of colours. Retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150312-blood-antarctica-octopus-animals-science-colors
7. Carrots Help You See in the Dark
Yes and no. Vitamin A is actively metabolised in photopigments in our eyes which deal with low light vision. As carrots contain a high level of vitamin A, they are thought to help you see in the dark. In fact, you would have to eat a huge amount of them to see any benefit. This myth may have been perpetuated by some very clever carrot PR during the Second World War.
With the Nazis blocking food supplies entering the country, Britain’s kitchens were dealing with the effects of rationing. The ministry of food provided details of alternatives and how to make what they did have last longer. Campaigns like ‘Dig for Victory’ encouraged families to grow their own produce. The carrot in particular (due to natural sugars) could be used in a variety of sweet and savoury dishes.
Meanwhile the RAF had installed new radar technologies to their planes. Enemy planes could be located and shot down during nighttime flights, sometimes before they crossed the channel. Not wanting to alert the Germans to their new tech, the government suggested their recent successes were due to the pilots eating lots of carrots. This also convinced the British public that eating carrots would improve night vision and help keep them safe during city wide blackouts. Families started to eat more carrots to emulate their heroes in the skies, and thus a legend was born.
Smith, A, K,. (2013). A WWII propaganda campaign popularised the myth that carrots help you see in the dark. Retrieved from: www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-wwii-propaganda-campaign-popularized-the-myth-that-carrots-help-you-see-in-the-dark-28812484/
8. Colds are Caused by Cold Temperatures
Who hasn’t heard the phrase, “Put a coat on, you’ll catch a cold,” shouted from the other room at least once in their lives? More people tend to catch the cold in winter so it’s easy to assume it’s the cold weather causing it.
The common cold is a rhinovirus and is usually transmitted through person-to-person contact or droplets in the air. For example, someone with the virus coughs or sneezes, sending germs into the air or onto surfaces (door handles, computers, supermarket trolleys, etc.). After coming into contact with the virus, it will begin to replicate in your cells, causing you to become ill. So the cold weather is not directly to blame for your seasonal sniffles.
Research suggests that viruses replicate more effectively in cold temperatures, usually in the nasal cavities of the host. These can be 4 or 5 degrees lower in temperature than the rest of the body, particularly in winter, creating optimal breeding conditions for the virus. There is also research to suggest that cold weather conditions lower the body’s immune response. You are therefore more susceptible to catching the virus in the first place and find it more difficult to fight off.
Viruses can be difficult to treat directly and are often highly infectious. Proper handwashing etiquette and cleaning of shared spaces will reduce the likelihood of virus transmission. Most people who catch the common cold will recover after a few days of rest and probably lots of tissues.
Eske, J,.(Medically reviewed by Biggers. A.)(2018). What’s the link between cold weather and the common cold? Retrieved from : https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323431#cold-weather-and-the-immune-system
9. Vaccines Cause Autism
No! This one cannot be shouted loudly enough. In 1999 Andrew Wakefield published a paper in The Lancet claiming to have found a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. This caused many families to decide not to vaccinate their children against these potentially fatal diseases.
What the paper failed to include was that the 12 children tested were carefully hand selected by Wakefield for the study. In addition, the study was in part paid for by lawyers with active cases against vaccine manufacturers. 10 of the 12 original authors almost immediately retracted. They claimed any data inconsistent with the hypothesis had been ignored and in truth the results were inconclusive. After an extensive investigation, Wakefield was found to have falsified data for financial gain and was subsequently struck off by the GMC. The Lancet published a retraction 12 years after its original publication, but the effects of the study have been harder to control.
The scientific community is constantly battling with the ever-growing anti-vaxxer community, who claim government conspiracy and hail Wakefield as their whistleblower, making it the scientific equivalent of putting toothpaste back into the tube. The uncertainty Wakefield created over the MMR vaccine has caused lots of people to avoid it altogether, creating a huge spike in measles cases worldwide.
In the interests of balance, this does not mean that there are no possible side effects of vaccines. As with most medicines, these are usually rare and largely very mild, especially in comparison to the diseases that they protect against. Vaccines are crucial to maintaining health and herd immunity.
Rao, T. S., & Andrade, C. (2011). The MMR vaccine and autism: Sensation, refutation, retraction, and fraud. Indian journal of psychiatry, 53(2), 95–96. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.82529
Measles in England. (2019). Retrieved from: https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2019/08/19/measles-in-england/
10. Lightning Never Strikes in the Same Place Twice
Lightning strikes our planet on average 100 times a second so logically this cannot be true. Lightning strikes when there is an imbalance between the charge of particles in the clouds and the earth. Nature seeks to right the imbalance between negatively charged clouds and the positively charged earth. It does so by sending an electrical current between the two. This current strikes the earth neutralising the imbalance and in doing so creates a large amount of heat. This heat produces the light we see but also causes the air around it to explode. The resulting soundwave from this explosion is what we know as thunder.
Buildings are more likely to be hit during lightning storms due to their height, often multiple times. The Blackpool Tower has been struck twice, once in the 1950s and again in 2016. Unbelievably, the Empire State Building is hit by lightning on average 23 times every year. It was once hit in the same spot twice during a storm in 2016. So lightning can and often does strike the same place twice.
Fun fact: in a lightning storm, other than being indoors, the safest place to be is in a car, which if struck acts as a faraday cage keeping the occupants inside safe.
Zaria’s, J,. (2000). How lightning works. Retrieved from: https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/lightning.htm
Breslin, S., (2016). Empire State Building Struck By Lightning During New York City Storms. Retrieved from: https://weather.com/news/news/empire-state-building-lightning-strike-image