Did you know that Marie Antoinette did not really say “Let them eat cake”? There are two other sources as to where this actually originated: one is from a woman known as Marie-Therese of Spain who is said to have uttered the phrase and the other is from an author in the 18^th century who was writing about a princess that suggested the poor people should eat brioche (similar to a sweet roll) if they did not have bread.

Photo by: Sandra Kühr

Did you know that the Great Wall of China is not the only visible man-made thing that can be seen from space? Although historian Richard Haliburton made the bold statement that it could be seen from the moon this is not true, but the myth that it is the only one that can be seen from close orbiting is still incorrect. Pictures and descriptions from astronauts have indicated that highways and airports can be seen also.

Did you know that Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb? In 1809 Humphry Davy invented an arc lamp and later Warren De la Rue actually invented the first sealed light bulb and later still in 1840 William Grove managed to light a whole room of lamps. It wasn’t until 3 patents and 8 scientists later that Edison expanded on the invention and created a cheaper and longer lasting version.

Did you know that despite popular belief humans do use more than 10% of their brains? It is true that fairly simple tasks do require a small specific amount of brain area but complicated tasks require far more as has been proven by magnetic imaging. One belief as to why this myth continues is that psychics promote the myth in order to make everyone believe that they use more brain power than everyone else.

Did you know that while you can debate whether men are actually more driven sexually than women the thought that men think about sex every 7 seconds is purely a myth? This thought has been attributed to Alfred Kinsey and his famous sex studies but even he wasn’t that specific; he simply stated that during one of his studies he found that about 97% of the men had sexual thoughts anywhere from a few times every day to several times during a month and most of those (about 54%) did fall into the daily category.

Photo by: G. Georgiev

Do you think that pigeons and other birds really will blow up if they eat rice? Since both the Simpson’s and Ann Landers have warned us against throwing rice at weddings just for this reason then it must be true, right? Wrong; no explosions due to rice consumption have ever been recorded or documented. As a matter of fact most birds actually eat rice grains as a way of keeping a healthy body mass during the cold months.

Did you know that technically Napoleon really wasn’t short? Although nicknamed “Le Petit Caporal” according to the Imperial system he was actually average height (5’6”) for the men of his country. The nickname was really given because he was said to have a respectful and friendly attitude toward the soldiers.

Some of you may be disappointed to learn that shaving/cutting hair really does not make it grow back thicker or faster. It is like seeing special effects: the hair that you can see is not alive (since the living part is under the skin) so naturally cutting it will not change its texture or how fast it grows; you are just seeing the hair at a different stage of growth.

Did you know that the Salem witches were never really burned? While there were over 150 arrests and about 20 of them were executed these accused witches were not burned at the stake. Some of the European laws did actually encourage burning after they were dead so that they may be cleansed of their witchcraft but this was forbidden in Massachusetts. All of them (except one that was crushed because they would not enter a plea) were hanged.

Did you know that there really is gravity in space? Yep, although the astronauts do seem to be weightlessly floating around in zero gravity that is not the case. The reason that space gives this impression is because the astronauts are gravitating towards Earth at the exact rate that the ships are.