Anyone who graduated high school around the turn of the century, or even 10 years there after, probably wouldn't recognize the information found in today's text books. Due to somewhat recent scientific discoveries, the knowledge we were given as children is now gravely outdated.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. The fact of the matter is that science is continuously updating itself. Take a look at your favorite online scientific publication and you will see that new breakthroughs are occurring almost daily. This in turn, makes it nearly impossible for the teaching of certain subjects-other than history and mathematics-to remain current. It's safe to say that elementary schools, high schools, and even most colleges are caught in a never-ending game of informational catch up.
With that being said, we have compiled a list of 5 myths that you were likely taught in school, that today, just aren't true.
Myth #1- Dinosaurs looked like modern day lizards
This is not only something that was taught in school, but was also portrayed across a wide variety of entertainment models. In movies, television shows, toys and books, the lizard-like dinosaurs were the norm. Truth is, they likely had feathers.
In a 2014 study, paleontologist Pascal Godefroit wrote that "feathers may have been present in the earliest dinosaurs." This comes shortly after the discovery of feathered dino fossils in China and Siberia. "Probably that means the common ancestor of all dinosaurs had feathers," Godefroit told National Geographic. This statement also includes tyrannosaurs, the royal family of T. Rex, the "King of Dinosaurs", although no feathery T. Rex has ever been found.
Myth #2- The humps on camels are for water storage
I personally remember being taught this in elementary school, and I've gone most of my life just assuming that it's true. I will, however, give credit to the education system for being at least half right. The humps do in fact enable camels to go weeks without nourishment, just as teachers said, but its actually fat that's stored in the humps and not water.
According to Animal Planet, the fat stored in camels' humps, or hump, can replenish about three weeks worth of nutrition. Although camels are capable of going weeks without water, their humps have nothing to do with that. It's the red blood cells that make this phenomenon possible. Camels have flexible, oval-shaped red blood cells that are able to store considerable amounts of water.
Myth #3- Bats are blind
I'm sure we've all heard the colloquial phrase, "blind as a bat", which is used to describe someone with poor eyesight. Actually, this couldn't be further from the truth. If anything, bats may be seeing more than any other species on earth. The truth is, bats can see very well with their eyes, their hearing is exceptional, and on top of that, they have mastered echolocation. Maybe being 'blind as a bat' isn't such a bad thing after all.
Myth #4- Drinking milk will make your bones stronger
This myth essentially originated through marketing campaigns by dairy companies, with a little backing from the USDA. The parental phrase I remember was always, "drink your milk so you'll have strong bones." Although calcium and vitamin D do the body good, they, and milk, are not directly related to having strong bones.
In fact, several studies have found no correlation between milk consumption and low rates of bone fractures. On the contrary, some studies suggest a link between drinking milk and higher mortality rates. That's not to say that drinking milk will kill you, but it's definitely not strengthening human bones.
Myth #5- Diamonds come from pressurized coal
This myth is easily debunked. It's safer to say that in the geological family tree, diamonds and coal are distant cousins at best. While both are carbon-based, their respective "homes" are rather far from each other. Coal is found near the surface, in the earth's crust, while diamonds are found much deeper in the earth's mantle-the thick layer between the thin crust and earth's metal core. The truth is, coal and diamonds are very different, and the natural processes that form these minerals are not the same either.
Hopefully this article hasn't ruined your childhood, or induced a trust issue with the education system-or at least more so than you probably already have. The fact is, science is always changing. With the world's smartest people dedicated to expanding our knowledge of everything around us, of course we'll experience informational changes. Who knows, maybe the information in this article will be proven false in the years to come.
More outdated myths can be found here.
