Posts tagged ‘myth’
Insect Myths: True or False
Insects have been the source of myths and wives’ tales for as long as humans have had to deal with them. They’re small and hard to observe so it’s no wonder we’ve come up with tons of crazy ideas. To make matters worse, they often act differently in captivity than in the wild, resulting in even more myths. Here, we’re going to delve into a handful of the most common ones.
Earwigs crawl up ears
There’s a myth that earwigs crawl up ears…hence the name. Some versions of the myth even suggest that they crawl up there to lay eggs! In reality, earwigs do not seek out human ears. They might crawl up an ear by accident but certainly not on purpose.
Black widow spiders are incredibly dangerous
OK, so spiders are arachnids, but they fit well in this list. First, let’s get one thing straight. The “widow” spiders are a genus, not a species, and so “black widow” can mean a different species of spider depending on where you live. They are venomous but only the bites of the female are dangerous. Even then, it’s extremely rare that they cause major complications (so it’s even rarer that a bite is lethal), especially if medical care is involved. While we’re at it, black widows do not chase people or go out of their way to bite—it’s always done in self-defense. If you see a black widow, respect its space and leave it alone. Don’t try to kill it—again, most are harmless, and messing with the spider puts you at greater risk of being bitten.
(more…)People Don’t Explode in Space
By Terry D Johnson
Countless science fiction films have exposed their characters to the vacuum of space – often, with explosive results. Outland’s victims of explosive decompression leave behind gory, reddened walls reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock painting. Perhaps most famously, in Total Recall Arnold Schwarzenegger played an increasingly bug-eyed Quaid when he ventured unprotected onto the airless plains of Mars. Grotesque decompression deaths are a staple of the genre.
These displays of spectacular tissue damage might seem like reasonable speculation, yet we’ve known otherwise for centuries. As early as 1660, the scientist Robert Boyle was exposing animals to vacuum without detonating them. Unconsciousness came quickly to the experimental subjects, but fresh air would quickly revive most subjects if administered before several minutes had passed. Those animals that died of oxygen deprivation did so without painting the walls.
There are several accounts of human beings accidentally exposed to near vacuum. Most dramatically, a test subject at NASA’s Johnson Space Center with a leaky spacesuit experienced a near vacuum. He was unconscious after 14 seconds and remembers feeling the saliva on his tongue beginning to boil, but after the test chamber was repressurized he recovered quickly.
If ever you’re exposed to space for a brief period, don’t try to hold your breath – the pressure difference between your air-filled lungs and the vacuum is likely to cause some damage. Don’t worry about the cold, either – space is chilly, yes, but the lack of air will make the transfer of heat from your body quite slow. There might be some painful swelling, but nothing so dramatic as a messy and very personal explosion.
Broken Secrets
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons (gnu)
Sources: NASA, WP An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, WP Robert Boyle
Run When It’s Raining to Stay Drier
Sooner or later, everybody gets caught outside when it starts raining.
I used to have a long walk to school. I mention this because walking to school has the same affect on rainfall as washing your car — it only rains at the worst possible time and it stops immediately after you stop caring.
When you’re stuck in the rain, you might think about whether it would be better to run or walk. When you run, you collide with more rain but you also reduce the amount of time you are exposed to the rain. When you walk, you collide with less rain but for a longer duration. So which is better?
It turns out that running is the better option, assuming you run fast enough to reduce the time you are exposed to rain. Myth Busters tested this in episode 38 if you want to check it out.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
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Sources: Myth Busters, Wise Geek
Broken Secrets 