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There are things in our life that we have been sure of since childhood. The earth is round, the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea. But some of these absolutely proven facts only mislead us. From geography to physiology, there are many examples where people collectively take the fantastic for the real. Here are ten of the biggest mistakes hidden under the guise of well-known facts.
We have already analyzed ten myths about the nature of the human brain. Now expand the horizons and consciousness.
Mount Everest - the highest in the world
Everest (or Chomolungma) is considered one of the largest mountains. But is it the biggest? Not. The height of the mountain is calculated relative to sea level. But technically this is the distance from the bottom to the top. And Mauna Kea remains the winner in this round.
Hawaiian mountain Mauna Kea rises above sea level at 4206 meters. But most of it is hidden under water (10200 meters). Everest remains only an upstart, towering above sea level at 8848 meters.
But the humiliation of Everest does not end there. Mount Kilimanjaro is 5895 meters high. It is not as high as Everest, but Everest is surrounded by friends - the Himalayas, which grow by a quarter of an inch a year and lift the platform. Kilimanjaro is growing independently from flat Tanzania, so it deserves special respect.
Body heat dissipates mostly from the head.
You feel that your head is warm due to the fact that there are many blood vessels in the scalp. Well, or because there is not much fat between the skull and the scalp. Or because the powerful circulation keeps your brain warm. Or something else. You never know that you have spoken there. Therefore, you wear a hat in winter: otherwise you will catch a cold. Keep your head warm and do not let it dissipate.
The sad truth is that you lose as much heat per square inch in the rest of your body. You would immediately understand this if you tried to clean the windshield of ice with a naked body (we do not recommend repeating it).
If on a winter day it seems to you that the head freezes more in comparison with the rest of the body, then your head is naked, and all other parts of the body are reasonably wrapped up. Wear a hat and the problem will be solved.
But the cap will not save you from a cold, if the rest of the body will blow a cheerful breeze.
The Great Wall of China - the only man-made object visible from space
The Great Wall of China is a rather discussed object among people who prefer mysticism and beautiful facts to science. Of course, you can see many man-made objects from space (especially when part of the Earth is highlighted at night). But the Great Wall of China is quite difficult to distinguish as the only object, moreover, it is almost impossible to see from space. From a low orbit above the Earth with the naked eye you will not see it, and even if you take a good lens, it is still difficult to determine whether it is or not.
There are several reasons for the fact that this fact is seriously divorced. On the one hand, the history of the Great Wall of China dates back to a time when nobody knew about space. Moreover, in certain historical times it could not even be crossed. And of course, the Great Wall of China is actually a giant wall. It stretched for hundreds of kilometers, so people can assume that from space the wall looks like a big protruding finger.
In addition, the Great Wall of China was built of stones collected all over the territory - and the local landscape is almost the same color as the wall itself. And unless the Chinese decide to paint it pink, from space it is very hard to see.
Glass is a sedentary fluid.
- glass?
- Flows down.
Some of us, being children of school and preschool age, attended excursions. And under the eloquent stories of the guide about how such curves and irregular glass were formed in this stagnant old building, your imagination was visited by pictures of how all the glasses flow downwards with time. That is, glass is a slow moving fluid.
Actually it is nonsense.
A less interesting explanation of why glass is heterogeneous is the process of creating glasses before the beginning of the 19th century. Then the window glass was made by the method of the crown. The glass exploded, heated and turned into a sheet. This production method was cheap and simple. Of course, in the process glass was formed, corrugated and thick in some places.
If you touch the chick, the mother will refuse him
You go out and see the drama unfolding: the baby nestling fell out of the nest and flutters its wings with all its might, trying to take off. Opposite the predatory cat is already preparing to dine the baby. You save a clump of feathers, remember how to make a nest out of the box, and feed your own hawk until it is ready to rise into the air.
But if you think that the mother of the chick will refuse him because it was you who touched his plumage with your fingers, this is rubbish.
Usually the chicks do not leave the nest until they are ready to fly. But like the person who first sat behind the wheel, the motor stalls, the first flight of the chicks is usually a failure. Therefore, several false starts chicks fall to the ground like a teenager confusing the gas and brake pedals.
With all this, the parents of the young pilot do not forget about their offspring. Most likely, they are sitting on a nearby tree and complain that the dumb kid has forgotten all the flying lessons. If you leave a chick that has fallen out of the nest, chances are good that a bird will fly to him very soon and will knock on the head, punishing him for illiteracy and preparing him for the next flight.
As for the smell, which you supposedly can leave on the young chick, the birds just smell too faintly. Some species are an exception, but the kid will hardly suffer if you transfer him to the other side of the barricades, where the little dog walking nearby will not interfere with it. Moreover, the bird’s parents put too much time and energy into it just to rush headlong, realizing that their child smells like a man.
Different parts of the language are responsible for different tastes.
Many people believe that different segments of the language are well oriented to different tastes. The tip of the tongue on which you put the cookie is responsible for the sweet, the sides for the salty, the back for the bitterness, and the center for the sour. This fact wandered in the minds of the uninitiated for too long to go unpunished now. Even in spite of the fact that being children, we often made sure that the wooden spoon would be wooden in taste, how much would it not lick.
It turns out that people can feel different tastes as food progresses throughout the area of the tongue. There are exceptions, but they do not concern the majority.
There is also a fifth basic taste, which was not publicized, and it is called umami . Augustus Escoffier (Auguste Escoffier), a 19th century French chef, brought him out in one of his dishes. Gourmets simply fell unconscious - he was described as tasty and meaty - but scientists strictly adhered to the taste tetrahedron sweet / salty / bitter / sour.
Despite the fact that Umami is well known to the Japanese, the “fifth taste” was still not to the taste of scientists. Until Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese chemist, decided to find out what creates the taste of the minds. Glutamic acid is responsible for the taste of the minds, and the discoverer himself called her taste the Japanese word, which we would translate to us as “yum”.
Until the end of the 20th century, no one believed a scientist, but now scientists know that Ikeda was right.
Before Columbus, people believed the Earth was flat.
Christopher Columbus was very upset before that famous departure. It was likely to end badly with scurvy or at the bottom of the ocean, well, or at least be eaten by monsters.
But obviously not fall into the abyss from the edge of the earth. The idea that Columbus challenged the entire scientific community of the world at that time, deciding to prove that the earth is not flat, is a lie.
Even in the times of the ancient Greeks, people believed that they lived on a big ball. There was a lot of obvious evidence, like how ships went beyond the horizon.
There were many objections to Columbus’s plan to reach the East Indies in a new way, but the argument that Christopher’s ships tragically (and expensively) plunge into obscurity at the ends of the earth is clearly not one of them. Most worried about logistics. Given the estimated size of the planetary ball, there were many chances that the ships would not reach their destination. In the 1800s, conversations resumed that our “dark and dim-witted” ancestors simply took and forgot the shape of the thing on which they live.
Venous blood blue
Our bodies penetrate the blue venous streams. It goes without saying that the magical substance circulating through them is also blue. Well, of course, it's just boring old blood.
But no! As soon as your blood comes to the bank (lungs) and withdraws cash (oxygen), her wallet is tightly stuffed (bright red). And after a night in the casino (circulation through the body), she returns with a hangover (dark red) and goes to bed (passes through the heart in another way).
In fact, the veins are blue due to the play of light, and not the color of blood inside.
Chameleons change color depending on the environment
Chameleons are one of the funniest creatures on the planet. It is a fact.
They are damn funny for a number of reasons: funny paws with two socks, extremely mobile cups on the eyes, very long tails and other body decorations. But what really attracts people in chameleons is their polychromatic flashes. The funny thing is that all these color changes, as people think, depend on the environment. That's nonsense. Color changes depend on the particular species, but it is initially well disguised as an environment in which it should live. If the chameleon merges with the situation, then it simply shows its natural color.
Changes in the color of the chameleon are caused by physical, physiological and emotional changes. If creatures feel anger or fear, they will change color using their chromatophores. In addition, color changes in chameleons often depend on communication goals (including romantic ones) or on the upcoming battle with a competitor. Light and temperature also play a big role.
People have five senses
We hear sounds. We see things. Feel the pinch. Bad smell and love cookies for their taste.
But if you think that you have only five sources that capture information from the environment, you are mistaken. And for that you should get a punch in the face. Boom. Now do you feel? This is nociception, the ability to feel pain.
There are other feelings - their lists are constantly changing and being challenged. There are a few fun things that the body does without your knowledge. Let's skip the most boring ones. Much more interesting is the manifestation of proprioception, which helps to pass the “close your eyes and touch the tip of the nose” test. In fact, the two parts of your body are connected without visual information. If you had to wipe your eyes to realize this fact, this is also a manifestation of proprioception. If you accidentally beat yourself in the forehead, you see that proprioception has let you down.
In addition, hunger and thirst can be considered feelings, as well as feeling hot and cold. Remarkably, the desire to scratch arises in spite of touch and pain. And so on and so forth.
Source: howstaffworks.com
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