5 Things you believe about science, that are totally wrong.

Heat Lightning
Doesn’t exist

The belief here is that lightning happens sometimes because is so hot that the sky freeks out and shoots lightning down from the sky...just ‘cus. No clouds, no thunder heads, no storm. Just HOT.

But it’s not true. Not even close. However, people will often say “nuh uh, I was outside this one time, and there was NO cloud in the sky and I didn’t even hear any thunder, but I SAW lightning, and I’m telling you the truth man.” Ok, but let’s think this one through a bit. How fast does sound travel? Pretty fast, but some cars can break the sound barrier, so, not that fast. How fast is light? 100,000 miles per second.  Pretty freeking fast...and it travels pretty freeking far. So far, in fact, that we’re seeing stars from several thousand LIGHT years away. (That’s in a strait line in space, sure, and we’re talking about a globe which is round. But we can still see lightning from a storm over 100 miles away.)

PIctures: Actual Lightning

So, what if there really WAS a storm, but you just couldn't see it because it was so far away. And what if the light from that lightning bolt flashed in the sky...that light would reach you way over there in Minnesota when the storm is still way over in North Dakota. But no, you won’t hear it, because sound can’t travel that fast or far. But instead of "what if", THAT'S WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. Lightning doesn't happen without clouds, a thunderhead, a storm. But there are a lot of weird lightning events, including lightning during the winter.

But why does it seem like “heat lightning” happens when it’s super hot?
Let me answer that question with another question. When do thunderstorms often happen?
You got it, when it’s hot.

But don't take my word for it.

Daddy Long Legs is the most poisonous spider,
if they could bite you
, you would totally die.

This one has been busted by Mythbusters in two different ways.
And I will be here, a full third way.

First, we need to nail down what the frick we’re talking about. The term “Daddy Long Legs” is used all of the country to refer to several different species. Where I’m from (Wisconsin and Minnesota), Daddy Long Legs refers to the species Opiliones, other wise known as Harvest Men. These are arachnids, but not spiders because their body and head are one oval shape, don’t weave webs, and don’t have venom sacs. BUSTED.

250px-Harvestmen Close Macro
Pictured: Daddy Long Legs, AKA: Harvest Men

However, what about the other things called Daddy Long Legs? They’re probably evil killing machines if they could bite is right?

Mythbusters covered this as well, first measuring the toxicity of the true spiders with the nickname Daddy Long Legs and determined it wasn’t enough to kill a human. They went even further: “A microscopic measurement of the long-legged spider's fangs proved their miniscule quarter-millimeter length could puncture human skin, taking a double bite out of the daddy longlegs myth.”

But they didn’t stop there. If you’ve seen the episode, you may remember Adam sticking his arm in a box full of spiders that have had the nickname of Daddy Long Legs...and let them bite him. And either they replaced him with an exact, evil robot replica of Adam to continue the show, or he’s still filming and totally fine.

(though, I wouldn’t put it past Jamie to come up with an ingenious way to make a fake Adam)

All bats carry rabies
For some reason, probably because of movies like Cliffhanger, people believe that bats carry rabies more often than most mammals. Yes, its true, bats can carry rabies, just like ALL mammals (really, a whale can carry rabies?  Holy crap, that would be terrifying...but totally awesome!), but do they really carry the disease more often than other mammals?

Pictured: Bat with rabies


“Previous studies have suggested that typically about 10 per cent of bats taken by the public to be tested have the disease and prevalence varies greatly, depending on the species and how often that species is around people. But University of Calgary research says the number is closer to one per cent regardless of species or where the bats roost.”

So there ya go. Stop saying that you don’t like bats ‘cus they all have rabies and just admit that you don’t like the fact that a little fuzzy thing is flying around eating all the mosquitos that want to eat your face. Wait, why don’t you like bats? Oh, ‘cus maybe they’ll fly in your hair? Nope, they have sonar, so, that’s busted too. What’s your freekin’ problem?

Cows sleep standing up
No, they don’t.

I’m going to just say right now, that this is not an argument about cow tipping (which is likely a myth), but I’m going to just set that one aside for now.
(For more information about cow tipping, try these sites:
, http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1990/11/8/cow-tipping-is-a-load-of-bull/)

We’re just concerned with the idea that cows can sleep standing up. This is not true.

sleeping cow
Pictures: Sleeping cow (not dead)

But horses can.

“Horses are able to sleep both standing up and lying down. In an adaptation from life in the wild, horses are able to enter light sleep by using a "stay apparatus" in their legs, allowing them to doze without collapsing”

Ok, what the frick is a “stay apparatus”.  

“The stay apparatus comes into play when the muscles which normally act to move the horse's legs are relaxed. Various fibres (tendons) run through the muscles and attach them to parts of the skeleton. ...some of these tendons are arranged in such a way that they prevent the legs from collapsing under the horse's weight when the muscles are relaxed.”

Basically, this means that the knee tendons lock in place, allowing the horse to be suspended by its shoulders, sort of like taking a nap in your own skeleton/hammock.

Cows do NOT have a stay apparatus, therefor, they don’t sleep while standing. They do dose, or rest while standing, but they sure as hell sleep while laying down.

If you die in your dream, you die.
I think, if we all just take a big breath and reason this one out, we can come to our own conclusion without looking around on the googlenet for the answer.

First, have you, or anyone you know, ever died in a dream? Pretty sure I have, and I’m pretty sure I’m not a zombie, or a ghost, or a zombie ghost ninja from the future (though, Zmbie Ghost Ninja from the Future should be M. Night Shyamalan next movie).

Pictured: Dream

Now, here’s the next question. IF someone DID die in their dream, and they actually died in real life...how would we know about it? Would they tell us? How? Who, besides a dude who can talk to the dead like Matt Damon (Hereafter), would be able to tell us how they died, and if they dreamed it?  Yeah...now it starting to make sense why this doesn’t make sense. But, don’t take my word for it.

Here are some people discussing it on a forum at Mythbusters

Some here are saying that they’ve died in their dreams. Ok, so, sure, they might be lying. But do a search for “if you die in your dreams, you die” and you’ll find a lot of fun stuff...all of them saying “No.”

Here’s an interesting one:
“Can you die when you dream?
No; or rather, you're no more likely to die while dreaming than any other time. The rumor that "if you die in your dreams, you'll really die" is completely false. In fact, some "dying" dreams can actually be pleasant; see the following reference for more information:
Barrett, D. (1988). Dreams of death. Omega: Journal of Death & Dying, 19, 95-101.”

So, we could just reason this one out and trust that we don’t actually die if we die in our dreams. Or, we could test it. Either by asking a ton of people if they died in their dreams, and then ask if their really dead. Or, by entering their dreams like in the Cell or Inception, then killing them, and see what happens. But...lets not do either of those things.

But if you’re still scared about dieing in real life if that three headed Hillary Clilnton monster finally catches you and starts simultaniously chewing on your head, your heart, and your soul, then check this out and train yourself how to wake up.

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