# When good adults believe bad science (share your stories) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738 "2005-12-30T16:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/241 "2006-01-07T00:18:01Z")
Ah. Your earlier phrasing gave me the impression you were trying to say Newton and Copernicus did not rely on observations to generate their rules. My apologies for the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/242 "2006-01-07T01:14:03Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > Remember this grand old “wisdom”? It’s a well known “fact” we only use 10% of our brain… we have a 90% “overhead” we still haven’t used… > > So, please people, let’s get cracking! I want to see a new thread, explaining how to use the surplus 80% ASAP! Actually, doctors are genuinely puzzled by how some people can be missing massive amounts brain tissue and still function normally by all accounts. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/243 "2006-01-07T01:23:21Z")
> [@Tomcat](#): > > Here’s a try-at-home experiment: > > Take a piece of paper, about 7 inches to a side, and put the numbers 1-4 in the corners, with an X in the middle, sorta like this: > > ```auto > > 1 3 > > X > > 4 2 > > ``` > > Take a piece of string (about 1 foot long) and tie a weight to the end (a washer, a pen cap, a few paperclips, whatever). Hold the string in between your two middle finger-tips and place your elbows on either side of the paper so that the string is hangin directly over the X. Now start chanting “One, two…One, two…one, two…” after about 20 seconds you should see the end of the string swing back and forth between the numbers 1 and 2. Then start chanting “Three, four…three, four…three, four…” and the string will slow down, change direction, and then speed up going between 3 and 4. You won’t conciously feel or even see your fingertips or arms moving the string, but it will slowly start to swing that way. > > -Tcat First of all, use the ```auto tag when drawing diagrams with text like this, otherwise the spaces aren't all displayed. Secondly, I was going to mention essentially the same experiment. but without the paper. You can make the weight move in any back-and-forth direction you want, as well as in a circle, then make it reverse direction, all seemingly by just thinking. Even if you're aware that your subconcious thoughts are causing your muscles to move, it's still quite impressive. I assume the effect of playing Ouija is similar, though I couldn't say first-hand. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Grits\_and\_Hard\_Toast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Grits\_and\_Hard\_Toast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grits_and_Hard_Toast)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/244 "2006-01-07T04:31:57Z")
I have had some very smart people tell me that when horses run, they always have one hoof touching the ground at any time. And that horses always sleep standing up, because if the ever lay down, they can’t get back up. Oh, and that horses grow additional teeth each year. That is how you can tell how old they are, buy counting how many teeth the horse had. So a 29 year old horse would have 29 additional teeth. I guess they figured foals were born with a full set, and then added on from there. ---
**Author:** ![jbarro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jbarro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbarro)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/245 "2006-01-07T18:10:29Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > First of all, use the > > ```auto > > tag when drawing diagrams with text like this, otherwise the spaces aren't all displayed. Secondly, I was going to mention essentially the same experiment. but without the paper. You can make the weight move in any back-and-forth direction you want, as well as in a circle, then make it reverse direction, all seemingly by just thinking. Even if you're aware that your subconcious thoughts are causing your muscles to move, it's still quite impressive. I assume the effect of playing Ouija is similar, though I couldn't say first-hand. > > ``` I tried this and was really amazed at how it works. Thanks! This probably explains the practice of holding a needle on a string over a pregnant woman’s belly to determine the baby’s sex. If it goes back and forth, it’s a boy, and if it makes a circular motion, it’s a girl. Whatever the person holding the needle wants the baby to be subconsciously sets the needle in motion the “right” way. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/246 "2006-01-07T20:14:58Z")
One awkward day in second grade, I was the only one in class, including the teacher, who knew there were no tigers in Africa. I once tried to explain to a roomate that pulling a rug partly over the hot air vent in the hall floor was not really going to direct more hot air to the upper floors, it would just make the hot air come out of the half-covered vent faster. It turned out though that we were both mistaken; the vent in the ground-floor hall was actually an air-intake vent for the furnace, not a heat vent at all. Another time I listened to a coworker complain about the “jumping cockroaches” that lived in the basement of her new house. They had really long back legs and could jump really high. Did she hear chirping noises coming out of the basement? I asked. Yes. Those are crickets, I said. I’m not at all sure she believed me; to her, big black bugs that live in basements were roaches, end of discussion. Even if they didn’t act a bit like roaches (she had noticed they didn’t run when the lights come on, as roaches do). Similarly, there are people who assume any pointy-nosed animal poking in the garbage has to be a rat. If it’s a whitish-gray creature that’s bigger than any rat ever seen, it’s a giant white rat, but it’s still a rat. Possum? What’s a possum? Then there was the anthrax crisis after 9/11. I spent a lot of time channel-surfing to save my TV; I knew if I heard too many reporters burbling about the “anthrax virus” I was going to throw something through the screen. If it was a virus there’d be no damn use taking Cipro, people! ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/247 "2006-01-07T20:58:54Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > I was the only one in class, including the teacher, who knew there were no tigers in Africa. I once had a heated argument with a girl who was adament that panda bears were a native animal of Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/248 "2006-01-07T21:38:21Z")
I got into an argument once with a man who insisted that mules could reproduce. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/249 "2006-01-07T22:41:16Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > Dad used Fitch’s Dandruff Remover Shampoo[sup]1[/sup] and when he picked up the bottle to give one guy a shampoo the guy recoiled in horror. “Don’t use that, it’s got dandruff eggs in it.” When was this, approximately? That sounds _so_ much like a Phil Harris gag (go on, imagine him saying it!) and they used to have so many episodes that revolved around Phil and Remley doing something conspicuously idiotic to the sponsor’s product or business in a misguided attempt to get on their good side. I could totally see an episode based on them somehow accidentally getting “dandruff eggs” into the shampoo. “Oh no, we’ll be ruined!” Not that I doubt that folks walk the earth capable of uttering things that sound as harebrained as anything Phil and Remley cooked up. Only last night I heard an adult talking about her plan to save money to start a business based on her brilliant idea of horseback paintball combat. Couldn’t see any potential flaw, there. Nope. Paintball: Fun. Paintball on horseback: More Fun. Obviously! ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/250 "2006-01-07T23:44:38Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > horseback paintball combat Oh we _have_ to send this idea in to the script writer’s for My Name is Earl! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/251 "2006-01-08T00:34:47Z")
> [@Cub Mistress](#): > > I got into an argument once with a man who insisted that mules could reproduce. Tricky, since johns (male mules) are uniformly sterile. Female mules (mollys) can sometimes concieve when coupled with a jack (make donkey), they’ll rarely carry to term. I don’t think a molly can carry fetus sired by a stallion to term even if the conception takes owing to hormonal conflicts. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/252 "2006-01-08T00:58:41Z")
Once in a Blue Moon, it happens. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2290491.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2290491.stm) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/253 "2006-01-08T02:11:42Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > When was this, approximately? That sounds _so_ much like a Phil Harris gag (go on, imagine him saying it!) and they used to have so many episodes that revolved around Phil and Remley doing something conspicuously idiotic to the sponsor’s product or business in a misguided attempt to get on their good side. I could totally see an episode based on them somehow accidentally getting “dandruff eggs” into the shampoo. “Oh no, we’ll be ruined!” > > Not that I doubt that folks walk the earth capable of uttering things that sound as harebrained as anything Phil and Remley cooked up. Only last night I heard an adult talking about her plan to save money to start a business based on her brilliant idea of horseback paintball combat. Couldn’t see any potential flaw, there. Nope. Paintball: Fun. Paintball on horseback: More Fun. Obviously! Oh somewhere in the middle to late 1930’s. Definitely before Framk Remley, probably during the[Kenny Baker](http://members.tripod.com/~jbotw/whos_who.htm) run on the Benny show. All sorts of products are the subject of viscious rumors, like aluminum pans for poison, Procter & Gambel for their logo and on and on. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/254 "2006-01-08T02:26:23Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > No, I’m serious. How do you know they (the laws of physical science) would still operate if not one person had the slightest shred of belief in any of it? > > I don’t think you’ve conducted this experiment, therefore I contend you have no right to say that. I’m not saying conclusively that they wouldn’t, but I’m saying you have no right to say conclusively that they would. That gave me my biggest laugh today. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/255 "2006-01-08T02:35:06Z")
> [@Giant\_Spongess](#): > > I can’t believe nobody’s dragged out the tired old myth of deoxygenated blood being blue. So many people still believe this it’s ridiculous. Do you mean that it doesn’t change color, or that it’s not a real blue? I’ve seen a deep cut bleed a more purply color, and I found this site: [science.ca View question #314](http://www.science.ca/askascientist/viewquestion.php?qID=314) ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/256 "2006-01-08T02:54:15Z")
Footnote on the Coriolis effect: The Straight Dope actually answered this question in the first book (my copy has it on pages 161-162, in the “physical world” section). It says that the effect does hold for macro-scale phenomena (hurricanes and such), and tanks of water that have been allowed to stagnate for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/257 "2006-01-08T05:57:19Z")
My best friends are fundamentalists. 6,000 year old earth, creationism, the whole thing. I asked once what they thought about carbon dating. “Oh the flood changed the way the rocks and radioactivity work.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/258 "2006-01-08T07:38:56Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Do you mean that it doesn’t change color, or that it’s not a real blue? I’ve seen a deep cut bleed a more purply color, and I found this site: [science.ca View question #314](http://www.science.ca/askascientist/viewquestion.php?qID=314) Some people seem to think that deoxygenated blood is just plain blue. I’ve donated blood, and the pint they draw out of my vein looks a dark, dull red. If you follow the link in that article of yours, they mention that for some dark skinned people the veins appear greenish. I have a medium brown tone, and mine look sort of blue-green. Does that make me a grue? > [@fetus](#): > > With turtles, it’s the latter. Turtles live in water, but they breathe air. Fish are the only vertebrates with gills. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/259 "2006-01-08T10:25:43Z")
> [@Cub Mistress](#): > > I got into an argument once with a man who insisted that mules could reproduce. 😕 Do they grow on trees? > [@sturmhauke](#): > > Turtles live in water, but they breathe air. Fish are the only vertebrates with gills. Yeah, I thought I might’ve missed a piece of the OQ. Regardless, it’s not good to leave your turtles in an uncleaned tank, OK kids? ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/260 "2006-01-08T13:40:04Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > 😕 Do they grow on trees? No, they are hybrids. Neither of a mule’s parents is a mule. Its father is a donkey, its mother is a horse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738.md?page=14)