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Whether you're interested in credit or fitness... digital photography or the West Nile Virus... or cars or skin cancer -- you've come to right place. We hope you enjoy your visit!
Like many Americans, you may be laboring under a few myths about Australia that deserve some serious busting. This is nothing to be ashamed of. Many of us have been misinformed on the subject -- not just by the usual suspects, rumor and the media, but also by Science itself.
And in any case, any subject that arouses intense interest generates myths by the carloads. Let's look at three, and quickly set them straight.
Myths about vegetarians are common, at least among us omnivores. That's not too surprising; as we've pointed out in the past, food myths permeate our culture. Basic necessities do tend to accumulate myths, possibly because everyone deals with them every day.
Whatever their stripe -- vegan, lacto-ovo, plain old vegetarian -- those who eschew meat tend to be misunderstood, even denigrated, by those who don't. So let's try to clear up a few public misapprehensions that cause vegetarians trouble.
Why are there so many myths about sleep? Given that we all experience sleep regularly, and scientists study it constantly, you'd figure that we'd pretty much have a handle on it by now. But maybe that very ubiquity has resulted in the confusion we so often experience.
Several years back, we busted a handful of sleep myths regarding snoring, the relative need for sleep according to age, the possibility of surviving on two or three hours of sleep a night, and sleepwalking. But there are plenty of myths where those came from, so let's tackle a few more.
To many modern Americans, the fact that a document like the Emancipation Proclamation was ever necessary is somewhat embarrassing. It's hard to face the fact that the "Land of the Free" allowed chattel bondage for nearly a century after declaring its own independence.
That said, we did correct our error; and nowadays the Emancipation Proclamation (promulgated on January 1, 1863), ranks as one of the very foundations of modern American freedom, along with the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. After all, it freed all the slaves, didn't it?
Why are animal myths so pervasive? That's hard to say, given that we should know better by now. After all, we've been sharing this world with our furry, feathery, scaly, and finny friends for some time now. Fortunately, science is lending a hand in dispelling these myths!
Some people might argue that science is actually just making life boring by taking the wonder out of the world. Au contraire; there's more than enough wonder in true facts to make up for all the fantasy! So let's dispense with a few myths about animals, shall we?
Science myths can be surprisingly sneaky, penetrating popular culture in subtle and surprising ways. Remember Popeye the Sailor singing "I'm strong to the finish 'cause I eats me spinach"? That's one example of a science myth.
They're among the world's most popular vegetables, so popular myths about onions are quite common. Mythologies, too. For example, the ancient Egyptians believed onions to be sacred. Archaeologists have found mummified pharaohs with onions in their eye sockets.
And according to the Turks, onions and garlic grew wherever Lucifer stepped after God tossed him out of Heaven, so at least there was a silver lining to that.
Myths about landfills are so pervasive that most people have developed a sort of "not in my backyard" attitude about the issue. In general, people tend to perceive landfills as facilities that forever ruin the land.
A number of damaging solar energy myths still pervade modern thinking about alternate energy sources, and that's a shame. Leaving aside conspiracy theories about Big Oil, it seems likely that these myths derive from past issues that sidelined the early adoption of solar power, many of which no longer apply.
Let's take a look at three common myths about solar energy that we can now put to rest.
As we struggle through the harsh economic downturn we know as the Great Recession, myths about the Great Depression - the event that almost killed the American economy from 1929-1939 - are popping up all over.
Often, they're presented as cautionary tales by those hoping to ease the recession... and more often, by those hoping to advance their own political agendas at the expense of historical reality.
