25 Commonly Known Facts That — Wait A Minute — Are Not Facts At All

1.I'm sure you've heard the warning that if you dropped a penny from the top of the Empire State Building, it could kill someone on the street below.

empire state building
Jamesharrison / Getty Images/RooM RF

This is simply false. It would not be able to gain enough velocity.

hand holding two pennies
Pm Images / Getty Images

2.If your dog has ever been sprayed by a skunk, you probably washed them in a bath of tomato juice.

puppy staring at skunk
Globalp/iStockphoto via Getty Images

However, tomato juice does nothing to counteract the smell, and it is as ineffective as using any other strongly scented item.

tomato juice
Yuji Sakai / Getty Images

3.Many ships and planes have ~mysteriously~ vanished in the Bermuda Triangle...

ship in Bermuda triangle storm
S_bachstroem / Getty Images/iStockphoto

...but not significantly more than any other well-traveled waterways and oceans, as it turns out.

bermuda triangle

The disappearances can be linked to storms, issues with the ships/planes, and likely human error.

James Gass / Getty Images/EyeEm

4.Has your mom ever told you to stock up on vitamin C during cold or flu season?

vitamin C tablets
Akaradech Pramoonsin / Getty Images

Well, tell your mom she was wrong, because vitamin C supplements have little to no effect on preventing or shortening a cold.

woman sneezing into a tissue

5.If you're Christian, you probably celebrate Christmas, aka Jesus' birthday.

man lifting his daughter to the top of the christmas tree to place a star there
Rebecca Nelson / Getty Images

Except it's not. The Bible references shepherds watching over their flocks during Jesus' birth, suggesting it was summertime (or at the very least not winter). There is no reference to any date — and certainly not December 25. In fact, no historical sources confirm that Christmas was celebrated then until 336 AD. It seems the date was chosen to appropriate the winter solstice — a pagan holiday — for Christian purposes, as it was around that time.

painting of Jesus' birth
The Print Collector / Getty Images

6.Also, Jesus would not have been white, nor is there any evidence that he had long hair.

painting of Jesus with rams

7.You've probably heard the belief that dogs and cats age seven years for each human year...

a kitten on a dog's heda
Getty Images

...which may be somewhat true for cats, but is pretty inaccurate for dogs.

different dog breeds

8.Someone has likely told you that the volcano in Yellowstone is overdue for an eruption.

Grand prismatic spring in Yellowstone national park
Surangaw / Getty Images

If you're counting the average years between explosions, we still have 100,000 years to go — however, these numbers are largely meaningless, as volcanic eruptions are unpredictable.

yellowstone thermal springs

Scientists are not even sure if there's enough magma for an eruption.

Marie-louise Mandl / Getty Images/EyeEm

9.Another common belief is that worms become two worms when they're cut in half.

worm in dirt
Cody White / Getty Images/EyeEm

The half with the head may be able to grow back its tail and survive, but the half with the tail can't grow into a new worm and will die.

NBC

However, flatworms can regenerate into two worms when cut in half.

10.I'm sure you know the hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bob Marley.

Bob Marley
Pete Still/Redferns via Getty Images

Except...he didn't sing the song. Bobby McFerrin did. In fact, it was written seven years after Marley's death.

Bobby McFerrin

11.Sticking with music, you've probably heard Phil Collins was inspired to write the song "In the Air Tonight" after witnessing someone drown and wanting to confront an onlooker who could've stopped it.

Phil Collins performing

You may have heard the story, like me, from Eminem's song "Stan."

Archivio Elena Di Vincenzo/Mondadori via Getty Images

This is nothing more than an urban legend. Collins himself has stated that he wrote the song about his divorce.

Collins performing the song
Hard Force / YouTube / Via youtube.com

12.Ah, the beautiful yellow sun...oh, wait a minute. It's not yellow at all.

sunrise over clouds
Vlad Georgescu / Getty Images

It's actually white, which you can tell from space. It only appears yellow because we're looking at it through the atmosphere.

the sun
Nora Carol Photography / Getty Images

13.One of my favorite creepy facts is that people's hair and fingernails continue to grow after they die.

pale hand in grass
Vikavalter / Getty Images

Which is why I was pretty saddened to find out it wasn't a fact at all! In actuality, skin around fingernails and hair follicles dry up and retract, which can make stubble and nails appear to have grown, even though they have not.

NBC

14.One of the coolest things about snakes is that their jaws can unhinge.

snake with open mouth
Timo Paschke / Getty Images/EyeEm

Except...they can't, actually. The lower bones of their jaws do not connect and are attached with a stretchy ligament that allows them to open their mouths super wide — but they aren't unhinging their jaws.

snake about to strike
Peter Schaefer / Getty Images/EyeEm

15.Did your mom ever tell you to eat carrots to improve your vision?

Joyful girl laying on her back in a field of carrots
Fluxfactory / Getty Images

'Cause that's totally false! In fact, the idea was actively invented by the British government to spread misinformation that would hide the existence of their radar systems during World War II.

Gay Media

16.Cremating is a nice way to turn bodies into ashes, right?

Small funeral ceremony and cremation service
Arrow / Getty Images

Wrong! It leaves behind bone fragments, which are basically put into a blender until they fit in with the other ashes.

Funeral urn
Godong / Getty Images

17.You may have been told you were a "left brain" person or a "right brain person."

Left and right side of the human brain illustration listing abilities on either side
Victor Habbick Visions / Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF

However, abilities are not actually separated in this way. There are not "left brain dominant" or "right brain dominant" people, and most cognitive skills — like math, and even language (though dominant on the left) — rely on both sides of the brain.

CBS

18.You've probably heard that female praying mantises eat their male partner after mating.

praying mantis mating with another
George D. Lepp / Getty Images

This does happen, but not every time, and not with every species. In the species where this does happen, up to 28% of males are eaten by their partner.

Facebook

19.You've probably heard of a "beer blanket" — aka the belief that you get warmer after drinking.

woman walking in the snow with a scarf, hat, and jacket
Paulo Amorim / Getty Images

However, beer doesn't make you any warmer. You might feel like you're warmer — or you're at least distracted from the cold — but if anything, it's actually making you colder.

person pouring beer into a glass

Drinking could mess with your body's reflexes to keep it warm.

Kevin Trimmer / Getty Images

20.What's also false? That alcohol kills brain cells.

System of neurons with glowing connections

However, it can damage the ends of neurons.

Andriy Onufriyenko / Getty Images

21.And that drinking liquor before beer prevents nausea/a hangover. That's right, folks: "Beer before liquor, never sicker; liquor before beer, in the clear" has no basis in reality.

NBC

Your hangover will be just as bad either way!

22.Babies used to not be given any sort of pain-relieving drugs during surgery because people were taught that babies couldn't feel pain, and you may have been led to believe this, too.

baby in ICU
Er Productions Limited / Getty Images

But, uh...they definitely do. Now, there are ways to provide pain relief for infants, although some surgeries do proceed without it.

View of baby's feet with a hospital security tag on
Sally Anscombe / Getty Images

23.If you're babysitting or around any kids, their parents might've told you not to give them sugar because they get hyper.

boy shouting with his arms out in living room
Granger Wootz / Getty Images/Tetra images RF

However, sugar doesn't actually increase hyperactivity in kids!

candy
Mitch Diamond / Getty Images

24.You also might've heard parents talking about keeping their kids away from violent video games.

kid playing video games
Eduardo Toro / Getty Images

However, numerous studies have shown that violent video games don't make kids violent.

video game character shooting guns
Colin Anderson Productions Pty L / Getty Images

25.And finally, we've all heard about the G-spot...but there is no solid proof that the G-spot even exists.

Bravo