You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

The Tongue Map

One part of the tongue senses bitter tastes. Another detects sweetness, and others sense salty and bitter tastes, according to the tongue map. The tongue map drawn back in 1901 is a lie. Scientists now know that the tongue works in concert to detect all tastes and sensations.

[Lee Stewart]

Diamonds Come From Coal

Diamonds are formed when coal is under intense pressure for incredibly long periods? In reality, that's nearly geologically impossible. In fact, coal forms virtually no diamonds; they are created in a variety of ways and places, including in the Earth's mantle and at asteroid impact zones.

[Lee Stewart]

There Were 13 Original American Colonies Under British Rule

Anyone educated in America knows the 13 stripes on the American flag represent the 13 original colonies. But there were only 12 at the start of the revolution, as Delaware was part of Pennsylvania until June 15, 1776, when the Assemblies of the Lower Counties of Pennsylvania declared themselves free of both Great Britain and Pennsylvania. Also, Britain had two loyalist Florida colonies that didn't take part in the revolution.

[Lee Stewart]

There's No Gravity in Space

It's common knowledge that astronauts float because there is no gravity in space. Actually, there is gravity everywhere, including space, including the kind that keeps the moon in orbit around Earth. People and objects appear to float while in orbit because they are in a state of freefall.

[Lee Stewart]

You Need Milk for Strong Bones

Milk is absolutely necessary for a strong, healthy body — if you're a growing cow. A series of studies have found no evidence that cow's milk improves bone health, but have shown dairy has a negative effect on overall health, including on bones. The milk myth has been pushed by the dairy industry, which lobbies the USDA (a recent USDA chief took a cushy, high-paying job as CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council).

[Lee Stewart]

Normandy Was the Beginning of the End for Germany

The bravery displayed by Allied troops on D-Day is undeniable, as is the historic impact of the battle. But up to 80% of German troops were killed by Russian soldiers in the East, and most historians consider the epic battles of Stalingrad and Leningrad as the death blows to Hitler's Germany. Contributing at least 26 million corpses to the calamitous death toll of World War II, it is certainly the Russians who paid much of the tab to defeat fascism.

[Lee Stewart]

You'll Need Advanced Math in Life

Year after year, legions of kids — many of whom aren't mathematically inclined — are forced to suffer through the chores of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry with the presumption multiplying numbers against letters in parentheses is necessary to hack it in the adult world. In reality, fewer than 1 in 4 Americans performs anything above basic math regularly at work.

[Lee Stewart]

The Emancipation Proclamation Freed the Slaves

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was limited in effect — first limited to slaves in rebel states, and then not universally known. The holiday of Juneteenth, celebrates the moment June 19, 1865, that Union soldiers rode into Galveston, Texas, to tell America's last remaining slaves they were free. This was news to the slaves, who had never heard of the proclamation, signed 2½ years earlier.

[Lee Stewart]

Pot Is a Gateway Drug

Anyone who went to school during the just-say-no era of the drug war knows that while marijuana itself isn't so bad, experimenting with it leads to addiction, incarceration, and death from street drugs. For years, educators accepted the "gateway" theory, a 1950s scare tactic that has since been widely debunked and acknowledged as myth in 2016 by then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Social ailments such as poverty, bad home environment, and early exposure are better indicators of future addiction.

[Lee Stewart]

America Is the Freest Country in the World

"It's a free country" is a mantra most kids probably hear before they even get to school. The reality, however, is that many countries are considered freer than the United States. The Human Freedom Index ranks America No. 17 on its global list (dropping nine notches in a year to tie with the United Kingdom), based on government size, religion, labor, trade, rule of law, and basic freedoms such as movement and association — and the average is pulled up significantly by economic freedoms. On personal freedom, the country ranks at No. 29.