# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/41 "2005-12-30T20:39:17Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There are airplanes that give 30 seconds of 0g at a time but rooms on the ground simply can’t have their gravity turned off. What if you neglect to pay the bill? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/42 "2005-12-30T20:39:42Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > My father believes that the 5-second rule is an established scientific truth. He heard it from “a doctor on the radio”, or “some scientists did a study - it was on TV”. Mythbusters tested this out, maybe that’s what he saw. I don’t recall the results, so maybe your Dad was basically right! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/43 "2005-12-30T20:40:52Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > During a conversation with my carpool buddy about the ID/Evolution court decision, he said, “And how do you know that carbon dating isn’t just something someone made up to support their side of the argument?” I honestly thought about going into a description of isotopes and decay, but decided against it. aaaargh!!! My mom also doesn’t believe that carbon dating is real. CARBON DATING ISN’T REAL?!??! “how can someone pick up a rock and say it’s 50,000 years old?” I tried to explain it to her the best I could but as soon as I said “theory” (as in “someone came up with the theory, it was tested, it was proved”) she blows me off (“aha! Theory! See?”). I suppose she doesn’t believe in the scientific process either. **Sean** did your friend go to school in Maple Heights, Ohio? I am thinking of suing them for making my mom an idiot 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/44 "2005-12-30T20:43:35Z")
> [@Mooney252](#): > > I don’t know who started the “duck’s quack” falsehood but I don’t think that one will ever die. I could have sworn it had been tracked back to the author, who made up a bunch a facts as a spoof of those trivia emails (or something similar), but I cannot find it. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/45 "2005-12-30T21:06:31Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > I know a few otherwise intelligent (and more importantly, skeptical) people who beleive in astrology and that **the full moon leads to odd behavior.** When I first started working in an emergency room, I was highly skeptical of claims that the ER would fill up with weirdos on a full moon. After two years, I was a believer. For some reason we always had a full house and the cases were very… interesting, to say the least. One guy was brought in for both a psych consult and a broken arm. He thought he was Batman and fell off the building he was scaling. All the fun stuff happened when the moon was full. No idea why. My grandmother flat out refused to accept that whales were mammals. We’d all just gone to Marine World, where she said “wow, that is one BIG fish.” My youngest cousin said “no, grandma, teacher says whales are mammals, just like dolphins.” My grandmother made some grumble about what they’re teaching in schools these days, the subject was dropped, and we all went home. I grabbed the encyclopedia, found the appropriate entry, and tried to show grams that whales are, in fact, mammals. She refused to look at the page. After about half an hour, all seven of her “ungrateful, disrespectfull” grandchildren were sentenced to their rooms for arguing with someone older and wiser. I still shake my head over that. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/46 "2005-12-30T21:12:48Z")
A person I know who is dead set against milk insists that “cheese has more calories than any other food.” When I pointed out that her healthy nuts have more calories than cheese (approx. 170 for the nuts vs. 100 for cheese per oz.), she just insists “No, cheese has more calories.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/47 "2005-12-30T21:19:19Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Mythbusters tested this out, maybe that’s what he saw. I don’t recall the results, so maybe your Dad was basically right! They did various test and found the 5 second rule to be BS. The wetter the food, the more germs it will pick up, but all the foods picked up some germs whether on the floor for 2 seconds or 6 seconds (those were the test times). ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/48 "2005-12-30T21:20:10Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Mythbusters tested this out, maybe that’s what he saw. I don’t recall the results, so maybe your Dad was basically right! Nah, they busted it and anyway he believed this long before that episode aired. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/49 "2005-12-30T21:21:28Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Mythbusters tested this out, maybe that’s what he saw. I don’t recall the results, so maybe your Dad was basically right! Oh, there’s another one. Peopel who think results of a TV show on the Discovery Channel = absolut, irrefutable proof. (I used to hate those guys, but once I relaxed a bit and watched it purely for entertainment, I started to like them. Don’t much trust them more than I can throw them, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/50 "2005-12-30T21:24:29Z")
The sky is blue because the sea is blue. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/51 "2005-12-30T21:25:46Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > When I first started working in an emergency room, I was highly skeptical of claims that the ER would fill up with weirdos on a full moon. After two years, I was a believer. For some reason we always had a full house and the cases were very… interesting, to say the least. One guy was brought in for both a psych consult and a broken arm. He thought he was Batman and fell off the building he was scaling. All the fun stuff happened when the moon was full. No idea why. [The master has spoken](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_337.html). > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > That’s pretty much been the story with all lunar-effect claims–when you look at them closely, they fall apart…So how do we explain all those cops and emergency room nurses who believe in the lunar effect? Easy. Nobody notices when there’s a full moon and nothing happens–you only notice when something does happen. In other words, heads I win, tails don’t count. Case closed. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/52 "2005-12-30T21:27:22Z")
At work a woman was going on and on about Echinacea. A friend pointed out that studies have shown that it is not effective. She replied: Oh you lateral thinkers, always needing facts. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/53 "2005-12-30T21:33:35Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > [The master has spoken](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_337.html). And he can. As I said, I didn’t used to believe it either. We even kept a log (it started out as a pool) marking the date of each full moon. While strange happenings kept happening during the month, they didn’t have the frequency of the full moon weirdness. _shrug_ Probably not scientific, but made for fun reading afterward. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/54 "2005-12-30T21:38:05Z")
I cannot get my extended family to understand the difference between influenza and ‘stomach flu’ to save my life. A 24-48 hour gastrointestinal plague is miserable, but it’s not got anything to do with influenza, getting a flu shot won’t alter your chances of contracting the odd stomach bug, etc. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/55 "2005-12-30T21:38:42Z")
Crap. Wish I could edit: I don’t believe the moon itself has any “power” over what people do. I think that people who wind up in emergency rooms on full moon due to one weird reason or another believe that it does, hence the strange behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/56 "2005-12-30T21:45:20Z")
Hah! I love these threads… I don’t know shit about science! ---
**Author:** ![jbarro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jbarro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbarro)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/57 "2005-12-30T22:15:58Z")
One night at dinner, my cousin’s wife explained that the reason why her face has a lazy side is because her grandfather was shot in the face during the war. . . and she’s a teacher with a scientist husband! I nearly choked trying not to laugh in her face. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/58 "2005-12-30T22:24:47Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I bet the discussion left you comfortably numb. Or worse yet, it probably left him with Brain Damage. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/59 "2005-12-30T22:34:01Z")
My parents sincerely believe that: potato skin is full of vitamins and is the healthiest part of the potato women have one less rib than men do you shouldn’t keep things like leftover olives or whatever in the fridge in an open can, because the metal will get in them and poison you And my dad deep down still thinks that you shouldn’t dig a hole in certain phases of the moon, because if it’s one way you’ll have too much dirt and if it’s another you won’t have enough. Also, most people think electrons go around atoms in a flat, circular, orderly manner just like the planets go around the sun, because that’s the way it is in the diagram. This is because education is often “lies to children” - telling them a simple explanation with the intention of explaining the whole thing later on, only a lot of people never get to the “later on” part. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/60 "2005-12-30T22:49:36Z")
Giving children sugar causes hyperactivity. Going swimming after eating causes cramps and drowning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738.md?page=4)