No.0016 - The animals on Noah's Ark

MYTH: There were two of each animals on Noah's Ark.

True Story: First of all, it may not actually be a true story, but I am just going to quote what is written on the Bible.

King James' Version:
Genesis 7:2 - Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

World English Bible:
Genesis 7:2 - You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female.

Douay-Rheims Version:
Genesis 7:2 - Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and female.

"Clean" animals referred to animals that can be eaten by Jews and "not clean" or "unclean" animals were creatures that were forbidden to be eaten by Jews, such as pig, camel, chameleon, eel, snail, swan, bat and eagles.

As you can see, different versions differ. King James' version seem to suggest there were 1 male and 6 female clean animals and 1 male and 1 female unclean animals. Meanwhile World English Bible explicitly suggests there were 7 male and 7 female clean animals. If different versions were not confusing enough, look at different passages:

King James' Version:
Genesis 6:19 - And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every [sort] shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep [them] alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

Genesis 6:20 - Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every [sort] shall come unto thee, to keep [them] alive.

Genesis 7:8 - Of clean beasts, and of beasts that [are] not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
Genesis 7:9 - There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

All passages seem to imply there were 2 animals of each, whether clean or not clean.

There is one more problem (out of many many problems):
Genesis 6:21 - And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather [it] to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
Genesis 7:12 - And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

That means there has to be food available for carnivores, which is probably fine today, as we have the technology to store animal flesh (not alive) on board. That means some of the animals were eaten by the carnivores or there had to be extra animals on board.

No.0013 - Santa Claus

The name "Santa Claus" is a corrupted version of St. Nicholas. Also known as Nicholas of Myra was a Greek bishop, born in the Greek colony of Patara in Lycia (a part of modern day Turkey) in 270 AD. So no Santa Claus in North Pole or Lapland of Finland.

The "Santa Claus" itself is derived from Dutch "Sinterklaas", a traditional holiday figure celebrated on Saint Nicholas' Eve (December 5) or on Saint Nicholas' Day (December 6). So no presents on Christmas Eve*.

It may not be surprising that he is the patron saint of children. But his patronage doesn't end there, bizarrely he is also the patron saint of prostitutes, repentant thieves, the falsely accused and pawnbrokers, as well as of fishermen, sailors, archers, pharmacists and merchants. What a bizarre collection of professions and people, you may think, but wait, he is also the patron saint of 2 capital cities: Amsterdam and Moscow.

* The date was changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve by Protestants during the Reformation of 17th century.

No.0011 - Hitler

MYTH: Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian and an atheist.

True Story: Both myths have been used illogically against vegetarianism and atheism.

According to many of his biographers, his favourite dishes include Bavarian sausage and stuffed pigeon. There is no evidence in his speeches or writings that he is against the vegetarianism either. None of his lieutenants was a vegetarian.

He referred to his religious belief both in his speech and writing, including his autobiography, 'Mein Kampf' in which he wrote: "I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews, I am doing the Lord's work". Nor was his state a 'godless' one, Nazi Germany worked with the Catholic Church.

No.0010 - Human sense

MYTH 1: There are fives senses.

True Story: Most of us have been taught that we have 5 senses in schools. But that isn't true, there are at least 9 senses and some even argue there are 21 senses.

The five senses was listed first by Aristotle, the Greek philosopher. In addition to his list: hearing, smell, taste, sight and touch, the common agreed 4 senses are:
6. Thermoception - sense of heat on our skin
7. Equilibrioception - sense of balance
8. Nociception - sense of pain
9. Proprioception - sense of where our parts of bodies are, without being able to see or touch them

There are also hunger, thirst, which can be included in the list.


MYTH 2: There are four (or five) basic taste senses in our tongue, and certain parts of our tongue is responsible for different tastes (as shown below).



True Story: This 'tongue map' is completely rubbish, but has been taught in schools around the world. Every parts of our tongue can taste the basic tastes.

What's more, there are more than 4 or 5 tastes that our tongue can distinguish.
The basic tastes are: bitter, sour, sweet, salty and umami (also known as savouriness or MSG).
In addition to these tastes, our tongue can sense the following:
- fattiness
- hotness (spicy)
- temperature
- coolness - or freshness, minty feeling
- dryness - unripe fruits
- metallicness

No.0009 - St Bernard

MYTH: St Bernard carry brandy in its barrel around its neck.



True Story: St Bernards never carried a brandy barrel.

The idea of a brandy barrel was an English artist Sir Edwin Landseer*'s. He painted a scene called "Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveller" in 1831 (shown below), which shows one of the St Bernard wearing a miniature barrel around its neck. He added the barrel 'for interest', however it got stuck.

The name "St Bernard" was also popularised by Landseer.

It is estimated that St Bernards have made around 2500 rescues since 1800, however none in the last 50 years.


* Sir Edwin was a renowned painter of landscapes and animals. His most famous works are "The Monarch of the Glen" and his sculpture of lions around the base of Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square.

No.0007 - Glass

MYTH: Glass is a liquid.

True Story: Most of us have believed glass is a solid material as a child (quite rightly), but as we grow up some of us have been told that actually glass is a liquid, which flows very very slowly. They point to the old church window glasses as a proof, as there are old glasses with its bottom thicker than its top.

But the real reason behind this is simply that medieval glaziers couldn't cast perfectly flat sheets of glasses*, and when that happens they preferred to fit the glass with the thicker end at the bottom just as many of us would do.

So the normal state of glass is solid, although it's an "amorphous" solid.

* In fact, we would not be able to produce perfectly flat sheets of glasses until mid-20th century. Sir Alastair Pilkington thought of floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal. As a result, he made it possible to build skyscrapers with glass rather than heavier concrete, which was the standard before then, such as the Empire States Building in New York.

No.0005 - Telephone

MYTH: Alexander Bell invented the telephone.

True Story: It was an Italian-born inventor Antonio Meucci, who first designed a working machine which transmits a vocal sound through a wire. Meucci arrived in the USA in 1850 and he first demonstrated his machine in 1860, which he called teletrofono. He filed a patent caveat, a kind of provisional patent, in 1871. However he failed to renew his patent caveat in 1874 and Bell's patent was accepted in 1876.

NUMBER: 90%
90% of household dust is made up of human dead skin cells. We shed around 40kg of skin in our lifetime.

UPDATE on 2010.05.12: I am sorry, in pursuit of busting a myth, I have written a myth. The main source of the household dust is not dead skin cells. It depends largely on the season, lifestyle, outside environment and whether window is opened a lot or not etc. Dead skin cells make up only tiny part of household dust, the most of it comes from dirt and girt, which maybe many people's instinct anyway.

No.0003 - Brain power

MYTH: Dead person's hair and fingernails continue to grow.

True Story: They don't, however they appear to be growing as the dead body dehydrates and shrinks.


NUMBER: 20W
That's what our brain's average power is.

Our brain consumes about 20% of our energy, so our average power is equal to five 20W light bulbs or a single 100W light bulb.

Following from the last week's number, we can calculate those numbers.

Our daily recommended intake is 2000-2500 Calories.

That's roughly equal to 8400-10500kJ.

There's 86400 seconds in a (solar) day
(24hours x 60minutes x 60seconds)

That's equal to an average intake of 0.097-0.121 Joules per second, kW
i.e. about 0.1W or 100W

So next time someone says to you "I am short on man power" or "I need man power", then just give them a 100W light bulb. However, all these above numbers refer to an average power consumption, rather than our output, therefore diminishing man power even further.

For animals, the brain consumes far less energy as a proportion of their total energy consumption.

No.0002 - America

MYTH: America
America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian merchant.

(Possible) True Story: (1) In those days, new countries and continents were not named after a forename, but always after a surname. For example, Tasmanian Island named after Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer and Cooks Islands were renamed after James Cook, a British navigator.

(2) It was likely to be named after Richard Ameryk, a Welshman. Ameryk was a wealthy merchant based in Bristol, who sponsored John Cabot's second transatlantic voyage. John Cabot* was an Italian navigator, and in May 1497** he reached North America***, becoming the first recorded European to set foot in America. Ameryk would have expected Cabot's discoveries to be named after Ameryk as he was the chief patron of the voyage.

* His real name was Giovanni Caboto, but the English called him John Cabot
** Vespucci's voyage to South America was between 1499 and 1502
*** The exact location is disputed, but it was very likely to be somewhere in North-Eastern Canada of today


NUMBER: 4.184 Joules
That's what is equivalent to 1 calorie (a.k.a. small calorie and gram calorie, abbrev: cal). 1 gram calorie defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram water by 1 centigrade. The definition of kilogram calorie (a.k.a. big calorie; abbrev: Cal) is similar, just replacing kilogram with gram. Conveniently 1 kilogram calorie is equal to 1 kcal (kilocalorie), which is most often used in food energy. So 1 kcal is equal to about 4.2 kJ.

Calorie was used as a unit of energy before SI-metric units were adopted. But annoyingly somehow it stuck, especially relating to food energy, as other non-metric systems are struck, like pint and pound.

No.0001 - Marathon

MYTH: Marathon
Marathon is 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195km) long sporting event, commemorated to a Greek messenger Pheidippides, who run the above the distance from the battle of Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia. Upon his arrival, he collapsed and died, because of the exhaustion.

True Story: (1) The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) set the standard distance of marathon at 42.195km (26 miles and 385 yards) in 1921, which was the distance used for 1908 London Olympics*. The distance used in 1908 was for the convenience of the British Royal Family, where the starting line was at Windsor Castle and finishing line was in front of the royal box in Great White City Stadium**, so Royal Family members can watch the start and the end of the event.
(2) According to a Greek historian Herodotus, Pheidippides was sent from Athens to Sparta to ask for help, then run back to Athens. The distance in each way is 246km (153 miles) and there is no mention of Pheidippides dying after his long journey. Since 1983, spartathlon has been organised in Greece, between Athens and Sparta.


* The distances used in 1912 and 1920 Olympics were 40.20 and 42.75km respectively. There was no Olympics in 1916 due to the World War I, which was to be held in Berlin.
** White City Stadium was closed in 1983 and demolished in 1985. Now on its site, BBC White City stands, which houses most of BBC's current affairs and factual programmes, such as Panorama and Top Gear.

NUMBER: 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds
That's how long it takes for the planet Earth to rotate around its axis of rotation. This period is known as sidereal day, while solar day refers to 24 hours-period, that we are more familiar with (86400 seconds, rather than 86164 seconds for sidereal day).

UPDATE (on 13th March 2010):
The (sidereal, I think) day has been shortened by 1.26 microseconds as a result of Chile's earthquake on 27th February 2010, which shifted the earth's axis by about 8 cm.