You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

Cracking Your Knuckles Causes Arthritis

For generations, parents and teachers alike terrorized children with the idea that cracking their knuckles would leave them with brittle, arthritic hands later in life. In reality, there is no connection. The "cracking" is actually bubbles bursting in the synovial fluid that surrounds the knuckles. Cracking knuckles can, however, diminish grip strength — and if you're not sure whether the habit is annoying, just ask the person next to you on the bus.

[Lee Stewart]

Sugar Makes Kids Hyperactive

There is a whole heap of reasons to avoid giving too much sugar to children, but hyperactivity isn't one of them. The myth of a child going berserk from a "sugar high" is exactly that — a myth. Popularized by an allergist's recommended diet and a flawed study in the 1970s, the connection between hyperactivity and sugar was debunked by a series of studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1995.

[Lee Stewart]

Ostriches Hide Their Heads in the Sand

Even to this day, many kids grow up thinking that ostriches bury their heads in the sand because they believe that if they can't see a predator, it can't see them. Ostriches have tiny heads that sometimes appear to submerge when they're pecking at the ground, and they actually do briefly put their heads in the ground to turn their buried eggs. But the ostrich did not evolve with the worst defensive survival strategy in the animal kingdom.

[Lee Stewart]

Dinosaurs Went Extinct

Some 66 million years ago, virtually all species of dinosaurs went extinct — "virtually" being the key word. It's hard to imagine that giant Godzilla monsters the size of buildings once wandered around what is now your town. But there are 10,000 species of feathered animals flying overhead to serve as proof that not all went extinct — the dinosaurs that didn't die evolved into birds. Another relic from prehistory are alligators, which haven't evolved much since they walked, swam, and killed alongside dinosaurs

[Lee Stewart]

Touching Frogs or Toads Gives You Warts

You should definitely avoid touching frogs or toads, some of which secrete powerful toxins from their skin. But if the poison doesn't kill you, you're not going to have to worry about getting warts. In fact, the bumps that cover some frogs and toads aren't warts at all, and even if they were, warts can only be caused by a human virus.

[Lee Stewart]

The Great Wall of China Is Visible From Space

Since it's the same color, texture and made from the same materials as the surrounding landscape, the Great Wall of China is nearly impossible to see with the unaided eye in low-Earth orbit. It is absolutely not visible from the moon, as many kids were taught in school. A 2004 image from the International Space Station might appear to show a tiny segment of the world's longest defensive fortification, but even Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei confirmed he couldn't see it while in orbit.

[Lee Stewart]

Elephants Have Graveyards

There is a common schoolhouse misconception that old elephants nearing death instinctively wander away from the herd to meet their end at the same site that their ancestors went to die. According to the BBC, "elephants clearly show interest in the remains of the dead," but there is no instinctive homing device that draws them toward collective staging areas for death, or elephant graveyards — and also, elephants are not afraid of mice.

[Lee Stewart]

Washington Admitted He Chopped Down a Cherry Tree

For generations, teachers have been telling students that George Washington was so virtuous that he couldn't tell a lie. The author of Washington's bestselling original biography was not bound by such moral hangups, and took significant artistic license with the facts. The cherry tree story is among the biggest whoppers.

[Lee Stewart]

Chameleons Change Color for Camouflage

Chameleons have the remarkable ability to change color, but it's not to blend in with surroundings while hiding from predators. Some chameleons change with the temperature or amount of stress they're experiencing. Others change colors to warn other lizards of danger. And of course, some males brighten things up to attract female chameleons.

[Lee Stewart]

An Apple Fell on Newton's Head

Kids learn in school that scientific pioneer Isaac Newton had his eureka moment about gravity when an apple fell on his head. It never happened. Newton did observe apples falling in his family's orchard, but there's no evidence one bonked him on the head and turned on a lightbulb.