True or false? Humans use just 10% of their brains. The Great Wall of China is visible from space. Peeing on a jellyfish stings eases the pain.
If you think any of these popular science misconceptions are true, you’re not alone. Half of Britons struggle to tell science fact from science fiction according to a new study commissioned ahead of New Scientist Live this autumn (ExCeL London from Saturday 7 October to Monday 9 October).
2,000 people were asked to select the real facts from 15 science-related statements compiled by the experts taking part in this year’s New Scientist Live, with 48% getting it wrong overall.
The science facts and fictions that stump half of us, but which do you believe?
· The sun travels around the Earth.
· Lemmings control their population by jumping off cliffs.
· Applying urine to jellyfish stings eases the pain.
· The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space.
· Men and women have the same number of ribs.
· Goldfish have a memory of at least two months.
· Global warming is caused by the hole in the ozone layer.
· Cows can be tipped over while they are sleeping.
· Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
· It is the father's genes that decide if a baby is male or female.
· AI technology was invented in the 21 st century.
· Mushrooms are not plants.
· Vaccines do not protect against bacterial infections.
· You swallow spiders when you are asleep.
· Humans only use 10% of their brains.
The survey reveals that more than two thirds of people (68%) would pee on themselves to ease a jellyfish sting this summer because they incorrectly believe the old wives' tale, made popular in a 1997 episode of hit TV series Friends called ‘The One With The Jellyfish’.
66% don’t believe goldfish have a memory of at least two months despite a number of scientific studies now proving their memories to last much longer than just a few seconds.
And 63% of people said they think global warming is caused by the hole in the ozone layer when it’s actually due to too much carbon monoxide being released into the atmosphere.
More than half also falsely believe the Great Wall of China is visible from space (55%) and we use only 10% of our brains (54%). But the man-made structure is not big enough to be seen from space and evidence has shown we likely use all our brains over the course of a single day.
Meanwhile, 51% said vaccines can’t protect against bacterial infections when there are vaccines that specifically target bacterial pathogens for diseases like whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria, and 46% think AI was invented in the 21st century when legendary mathematician Alan Turing invented a test for artificial intelligence as far back as the 1950s.
Physicist and Radio 4 presenter Professor Jim Al-Khalili, one of the experts taking part in this year’s New Scientist Live, said: "While there has always been a concern about the public’s mistrust of science, the flip side is often that anything sounding vaguely scientific is taken to be true.
“But one of the lessons of the way we do science is that we must always be curious and demand evidence about what we are told. Sometime strange and mistaken beliefs about the world just get circulated until they take on a life of their own and are accepted without question."
The study also found just a quarter (27%) of people are confident holding a conversation about science and nearly half (43%) would actively avoid talking about science or would be out of their comfort zone discussing the subject.
62% said their scientific knowledge has either stayed the same or decreased since leaving school, with 30% admitting to making no effort to update their knowledge since then. And one in five (19%) said they would now turn to social media to check if a scientific fact was true or not, with 11% likely to look it up on Facebook and 9% turning to TikTok.
This year's New Scientist Live is the best place to distinguish science fiction from science fact thanks to its unique mix of live experiments, talks by world-class scientists, and demonstrations of the latest cutting-edge technology.
BBC Strictly winner & wildlife photographer Hamza Yassin, TV Doctor & Presenter Dr Chris van Tulleken, TV presenter & YouTuber Maddie Moate, and anatomist, biological anthropologist, author and broadcaster Alice Roberts will be among the other experts taking part in this year’s three-day extravaganza for curious minds from across the globe.
Science facts versus science fictions. How many did you get right?
- The sun travels around the Earth – FALSE. The Earth revolves around the sun, but 41% of Brits think it happens the other way around.
- Lemmings control their population by jumping off cliffs – FALSE. This is a myth first made popular by a 1950s Disney documentary that more than a third of people (36%) still believe in.
- Applying urine to jellyfish stings eases the pain - FALSE. Contrary to the old wives’ tale believed by a staggering 68% of people, urine doesn’t ease jellyfish stings and may actually worsen the pain.
- The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space – FALSE. The Great Wall of China is not visible to the naked eye from as far away as the International Space Station, despite 55% of people believing this to be the case.
- Men and women have the same number of ribs – TRUE. Both men and women typically have 12 ribs, a fact disbelieved by 43% of us.
- Goldfish have a memory of at least two months- TRUE. Two thirds of people (66%) don’t believe goldfish can remember things for several months, despite research proving they can even be trained to respond to certain cues.
- Global warming is caused by the hole in the ozone layer – FALSE. 63% of us think the hole in the ozone layer has caused global warming when it actually results from increased greenhouse gas concentrations.
- Cows can be tipped over while they are sleeping – FALSE. 47% wrongly believe in the urban legend that is possible to easily tip over a sleeping cow.
- Lightning never strikes the same place twice – FALSE. But a quarter of people (26%) still wrongly believe in the common saying.
- It is the father's genes that decide if a baby is male or female – TRUE. Despite new studies showing men inherit a tendency to have more sons or more daughters, nearly half (48%) of people don’t think this is the case.
- AI technology was invented in the 21 st century – FALSE. 46% of us think AI was invented in the last 23 years but artificial intelligence technology has a history that predates the 2000s.
- Mushrooms are not plants – TRUE. Mushrooms belong to the fungi kingdom but 38% of us still think they’re plants.
- Vaccines do not protect against bacterial infections – FALSE. Whilst half of people (51%) believe vaccines can only protect against viral infections, they're also effective against certain bacterial infections.
- You swallow spiders when you are asleep – FALSE. It is highly unlikely that we’ll swallow a spider whilst sleeping but nearly half of us (46%) fear it to be true.
- Humans only use 10% of their brains – FALSE. Even though scientists have shown we use various parts of our brains throughout the day, more than half of people (54%) think we use just 10%, a science fiction sometimes falsely attributed to Albert Einstein.
Tickets for New Scientist Live 2023 are on sale here. Early booking is recommended to secure a place.
