Category: Science

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People Admit What Naturally Occurring Bodily Function Bothers Them the Most

We obviously have a lot of naturally occurring bodily functions, but are there some that really bother you?

Whether if it’s from you or other people?

I guess the answer is yes, based on what you’re about to read…

People on AskReddit talked about which naturally occurring bodily functions really bother them.

Let’s get weird!

1. That’s too bad.

“Fight-or-flight.

I have PTSD stemming from childhood trauma so even my roommate stepping heavily on the floor triggers anxiety and hyper-awaredness.”

2. Sounds like thunder.

“My tummy making sounds like I haven’t eaten for 5 years.”

3. It’s burning!

“Runny noses.

That s**t sucks and when you’re sick enough it starts to burn.”

4. Awful.

“Acid reflux.

Nothing like waking up with intense chest pains and a mouth full of stomach acid throw up.”

5. Sucks

“F**k periods and PMS. Good lord what a hassle!

You have to buy special things (pads, tampons, IB profen) and you feel like dog s**t the days immediately preceding and during.

You have to make sure to have a pad or tampon every time you go to the bathroom and it sucks if you forget.

And God forbid any tampon/pad dispensary is actually stocked in a bathroom!”

6. Fat.

“The body storing excess energy in fat cells….that kind of thing needs a cap.

Like, up to 15% of body weight can be fat, any excess beyond that gets flushed out of the system.”

7. What are you dreaming about?

“As a guy, in my opinion, wet dreams.

They’re so annoying, inconvenient and just straight up unwanted.”

8. It’s time again.

“Growing nails.

Mine grow too fast, I have to cut them every 3 days”

9. Not fun.

“Vomiting.

It’s generally activated to evacuate poisons/irritants from the body but the wind up to and the act of…I am grown and will still cry every time.”

10. Uh oh.

“Getting a huge b**er in public.

Like while having to present in front of class or while being in other public places.”

11. It happens.

“Very rarely I choke on my own saliva and my body goes instantly in fight mode to survive.

Coughing like a maniac, adrenalin rush, and my heart goes crazy.

Out of nowhere. This is ridiculous.”

12. The big one.

“Fa**s.

Especially when you can’t let them go and they build up or these quite ones that mark their presence in other ways.”

13. Why is this happening?

“Yawning!

I dont sleep much so it happens several times a minute, it makes my ears pop and my eyes water so I’m basically crying all day and then my eyes get sore from wiping away all the tears.”

14. Make it go away.

“Body hair. I got hair everywhere. Literally.

Shoulders? Check! Toes? Check! Back? Check! And many more places I don’t want to name.

It might have been useful ages ago but now please just let it go away please.”

What bodily function bothers you the most?

Tell us what you think in the comments.

Please and thank you!

The post People Admit What Naturally Occurring Bodily Function Bothers Them the Most appeared first on UberFacts.

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8 Secrets That Meteorologists Keep

People like to give meteorologists a lot of grief because of all the times they’re wrong about the weather that’s coming (for better or worse), but listen –  we all know that Mother Nature is fickle, so we should probably give them a break.

If you’re curious what the pressure is like in front of those (troublesome) green screens, here are 8 behind-the-scenes secrets of meteorologists everywhere.

8. They’re under a lot of pressure.

Image Credit: iStock

People not only plan their daily lives around the weather forecast, they’re also responsible for warning people – the right people – when a dangerous storm is rolling in.

It’s not something they take lightly, says meteorologist Jacob Wycoff.

“If you miss a severe weather forecast and someone’s out on the ball field and gets stuck, someone could get injured.

It is a great responsibility that we have.”

Basically, there are definitely consequences and they take those seriously.

7. They have a strict dress code.

Image Credit: iStock

Because of the green background where maps are projected, on-air meteorologists absolutely cannot wear green, but Jennifer Myers, a Dallas-based meteorologist, says there are other rules, too.

“Distracting prints are a no-no. Cleavage angers viewers over 40 something fierce, so we stay away from that.

There’s no length rule on skirts/dresses but if you wouldn’t wear it to a family event, you probably shouldn’t wear it on TV.

Nothing reflective.

Nothing that makes sound.”

Women, of course, have it tougher because people will criticize what they wear without thinking, and also because their outfits are typically more memorable.

6. But they can wear whatever shoes they want.

Image Credit: iStock

Their feet rarely appear on camera, so most go for footwear that’s comfortable enough to stand in for hours at a time.

Occasionally, women meteorologists will use their calves to strap their mics on, too, so it doesn’t make a bulge under a blouse or skirt.

5. They know all the good tricks for staying warm outside.

Image Credit: iStock

Stephanie Abrams, co-host of The Weather Channel’s AMHQ, says they’ve developed them out of necessity.

“In the field when I’m covering snow storms, I go to any pharmacy and get those back patches people wear, those heat wraps, and stick them all over my body. Then I put on a wet suit.

When you’re out for as long as we are, that helps you stay dry.

I have to be really hot when I go out for winter storms.”

Those are some pro-tips!

4. Seven-day forecasts are mostly guesses.

Image Credit: iStock

Wycoff says you shouldn’t put too much stock in anything that goes beyond 3 days.

“I would say that within three days, meteorologists are about 90 percent accurate.

Then at five days we’re at about 60 percent to 75 percent and then after seven days it becomes a bit more wishy-washy.”

Yeah, that’s probably why people say they aren’t that accurate.

3. Some never master the green screen.

Image Credit: iStock

Meteorologists aren’t really standing in front of giant maps; they’re backed by green screens that are used to project images onto them.

They can see TV monitors around the room that reflect what viewers are seeing, which helps them know where to point, but it’s harder than it looks.

Gary England, a weatherman and former chief meteorologist for Oklahoma’s KWTV, says it can kill careers and that he’s “seen people never get used to it.”

2. They’re not fans of social media.

Image Credit: iStock

Like everyone else who deals in news and reality these days, meteorologists spend more time than they’d like debunking bogus – and dangerous – forecasts that bounce around online.

Scott Sistek, a meteorologist and weather blogger from Seattle, says people need to stay in their lane.

“People think it’s as easy as reading a chart.

A lot of armchair meteorologists at home can look at a chart and go ok, half an inch of rain.

But we take the public front when it’s wrong.”

I mean… didn’t you think this way? Even a little?

1. They don’t use a teleprompter.

Image Credit: iStock

Everything TV meteorologists say in front of the camera is ad-libbed, says Wycoff.

All of it.

“Our scripts are the graphics we create.

Generally speaking we’re using the graphics to talk through our stories, but everything we say is ad-libbed.

Sometimes you can fumble the words you want to say, and sometimes you may miss a beat, but I think what that allows you to do is have a little off-the-cuff moment, which I think the viewers enjoy.”

I feel smarter now, don’t you?

What other secrets do you think meteorologists are keeping? Share them in the comments!

The post 8 Secrets That Meteorologists Keep appeared first on UberFacts.

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Scientists Actually Performed These Unethical Experiments

It’s not a secret at this point that science has, on several occasions throughout history, gone too far in its pursuit of progress.

Unethical experiments have been performed on human beings without the agency to resist, lies have been told, dangerous substances haven’t been protected, and psychological damage has been waved aside, even in rooms with children.

Below are 4 experiments that all under that umbrella, and the scientists involved all surely knew better before they even began.

4. Testicle transplants.

While Dr. Leo Stanley was in charge of the health of prisoners at San Quentin Prison in California, he surgically transplanted the testicles of executed criminals onto living inmates in a desire to find out whether raising testosterone levels would reduce an urge to criminal behavior.

More than 600 inmates suffered at his hands, some even being injected with liquefied animal testicles, when there were no human ones available.

Stanley claimed success after a Caucasian prisoner claimed to feel “energetic” after receiving a testicle from an executed African-American convict.

3. Unit 731

Image Credit: Free Use

In 1938, the Japanese government set up Unit 731 with the intention of developing biological weapons that could be used in warfare.

The unit used Chinese prisoners and Asian civilians as guinea pigs, without their knowledge and/or consent, and infected them with cholera, anthrax, plague, and other horrible pathogens.

Many died, but still, after WWII America (and other countries) provided safe passage to some of the researchers involved in exchange for ownership of their research.

2. The Stanford Prison Experiment

Image Credit: Eric. E. Castro

In 1971, hoping to investigate the causes of conflict between prisoners and guards, took 24 students and assigned them to one role or another. They were then placed in a prison-like environment.

The researchers planned for the experiment to last two weeks, but had to pull the plug after only six days because they were unable to maintain any semblance of order.

One in every three “guards” abused the prisoners, sometimes violently, leading to at least two of the prisoners suffering emotional trauma.

We learned a lot about how power and certain situations can influence an individual’s behavior, but no one involved was quite the same afterward.

1. Two-headed dogs.

Vladimir Demikhov’s studies have helped medical science advance, and his attempts to graft the head of a puppy onto the neck of a German Shepherd, especially, led to huge advances in the field of organ transplants in humans.

It wasn’t so great for the dogs, though, who – although they could move independently of each other – did not survive long due to tissue rejection issues. Of the 20 two-headed dogs that were created, only one survived for an entire month.

Science never ceases to amaze me – in good ways and horrible ways, sometimes in equal measure.

What’s the worst science experiment you’ve learned about? If it’s not on this list, tell us about it in the comments!

The post Scientists Actually Performed These Unethical Experiments appeared first on UberFacts.

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Scientists Actually Performed These Unethical Experiments

It’s not a secret at this point that science has, on several occasions throughout history, gone too far in its pursuit of progress.

Unethical experiments have been performed on human beings without the agency to resist, lies have been told, dangerous substances haven’t been protected, and psychological damage has been waved aside, even in rooms with children.

Below are 4 experiments that all under that umbrella, and the scientists involved all surely knew better before they even began.

4. Testicle transplants.

While Dr. Leo Stanley was in charge of the health of prisoners at San Quentin Prison in California, he surgically transplanted the testicles of executed criminals onto living inmates in a desire to find out whether raising testosterone levels would reduce an urge to criminal behavior.

More than 600 inmates suffered at his hands, some even being injected with liquefied animal testicles, when there were no human ones available.

Stanley claimed success after a Caucasian prisoner claimed to feel “energetic” after receiving a testicle from an executed African-American convict.

3. Unit 731

Image Credit: Free Use

In 1938, the Japanese government set up Unit 731 with the intention of developing biological weapons that could be used in warfare.

The unit used Chinese prisoners and Asian civilians as guinea pigs, without their knowledge and/or consent, and infected them with cholera, anthrax, plague, and other horrible pathogens.

Many died, but still, after WWII America (and other countries) provided safe passage to some of the researchers involved in exchange for ownership of their research.

2. The Stanford Prison Experiment

Image Credit: Eric. E. Castro

In 1971, hoping to investigate the causes of conflict between prisoners and guards, took 24 students and assigned them to one role or another. They were then placed in a prison-like environment.

The researchers planned for the experiment to last two weeks, but had to pull the plug after only six days because they were unable to maintain any semblance of order.

One in every three “guards” abused the prisoners, sometimes violently, leading to at least two of the prisoners suffering emotional trauma.

We learned a lot about how power and certain situations can influence an individual’s behavior, but no one involved was quite the same afterward.

1. Two-headed dogs.

Vladimir Demikhov’s studies have helped medical science advance, and his attempts to graft the head of a puppy onto the neck of a German Shepherd, especially, led to huge advances in the field of organ transplants in humans.

It wasn’t so great for the dogs, though, who – although they could move independently of each other – did not survive long due to tissue rejection issues. Of the 20 two-headed dogs that were created, only one survived for an entire month.

Science never ceases to amaze me – in good ways and horrible ways, sometimes in equal measure.

What’s the worst science experiment you’ve learned about? If it’s not on this list, tell us about it in the comments!

The post Scientists Actually Performed These Unethical Experiments appeared first on UberFacts.

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Take a Look at These Infographics That Could Really Help You Out

A picture is worth a thousand words.

And while I sometimes think a few words would go a long to providing context for pictorial furniture instructions, I do love a good infographic.

Here are 15 super useful infographics that you might want to keep close at hand.

1. For quick, easy reference

I love an easy reference cooking chart. I use the one for my InstantPot ALL. THE. TIME.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

2. For every day mishaps

I literally needed this yesterday. Time to put it on the fridge.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

3. For those with a black thumb

If only it covered every kind of plant. Specifically snake plants (asking for a friend).

Image credit: eBaum’s World

4. For those who like to party

The longer I look at this, the more fascinating it becomes.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

5. For those who really like to party

Just kidding, this is actually really useful information that everyone should know.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

6. For life’s little disappointments

Keep this one in your glove box. It should come free with every pair of jumper cables.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

7. For when you want to be fancy

Keep it in your purse for dining out. I love that there’s a special signal that you didn’t like your meal.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

8. For sending a subtle message

Tape this on the back of the remote, the Ipad, the laptop…

Image credit: eBaum’s World

9. For planning your epic family vacation

Get ready Route 66, the road trip is about to have a resurgence.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

10. For when technology feels overwhelming

Because you know you’re getting old when you’re grouchy about new USBs.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

11. For when you need to prove a point

Welcome to healthcare in America.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

12. & 13. For when you have a pressing science question

About space…

Image credit: eBaum’s World

or about anatomy…

Image credit: eBaum’s World

14. For when you want to avoid an allergic reaction

Is it worth the risk? Only you can decide!

Image credit: eBaum’s World

15. For when you have a pressing frosting need

I personally only use the large round one, but that’s just me.

Image credit: eBaum’s World

These all definitely show how an infographic can go a long way to helping in any situation.

I kind of wish I had known about them as a kid. I think I would have won a lot more arguments.

Are you a visual learner? Do you like a good graphic? Let us know in the comments.

The post Take a Look at These Infographics That Could Really Help You Out appeared first on UberFacts.

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This is How Your Street Ends Up With Those Annoying Potholes

It’s coming up on pothole-fixing season, friends. I suppose this is superior to pothole-making season (winter and early spring) but honestly, all of our lives and cars and pocketbooks would be better off if there were no potholes at all.

Maybe the key to preventing potholes is knowing how they get there in the first place (it’s worth a shot, right?) but even if it’s not, knowledge is never a bad thing.

Image Credit: iStock

So, without further ado, here’s what makes those annoying, broken spots in the road over the winter.

Potholes happen when water seeps into the rock, gravel, and soil that sits underneath the asphalt on the road and then freezes, which is why they’re most common in the winter and early spring.

Once frozen the water expands, pushing up against the pavement, weakening the asphalt until the pressure finally cracks it, allowing the water to seep toward the surface. Along the way it will freeze and then thaw several more times, leaving gaps and voids and more cracking.

Image Credit: iStock

This weakening is further exacerbated by the constant traffic putting pressure on the pavement from the top, which pushes asphalt back into the gaps created by a melting cycle in the ice.

The result is a hole, sometimes the size of a crater, always willing to make you spill your coffee on the way to the office in the morning.

Potholes cause damage to car tires by puncturing them or bending the rims, and can also knock your alignment out of whack fairly quickly. Make sure you’re paying attention, that you keep space between you and the car in front of you, and slowing down if you can’t avoid running through one.

Image Credit: iStock

So stay away when you can, y’all – fixing your car isn’t cheap.

Do you have any more tips for saving money on car maintenance? Share them with us in the comments!

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Scientists Figured Out a Way to Turn Your Body Heat Into a Battery

In a world where everyone is looking for the next best source of renewable energy, I doubt most of us considered that we might be staring at a decent one in the mirror every  day.

That’s exactly what scientists are saying is possible though – that we might be able to power things like pacemakers, insulin pumps, etc. using the body heat we’re already generating on a daily basis.

They think that a small gadget, the same size and shape as a typical smartwatch or even a ring, could turn your body’s electricity into a battery.

They’re calling it a thermoelectric generator (TEG), and the scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder think it could be as small as a ring, but as large as a sleeve, if a person needed or wanted to generate more power.

Here’s what it would look like as a ring. First, the making of the flexible sheets that would produce the electricity.

Image Credit: Science Magazine

Then the construction of the ring.

Image Credit: Science Magazine

The ring, watch, or sleeve must come into contact with your skin, where the malleable circuitry inside the device converts your body heat into electricity, and then a special material inside the gadget reconfigures itself to keep from breaking as you move.

The TEG resembles your skin, which means you should be able to wear it all the time, in almost every situation, without ruining or harming it at all.

Image Credit: Science Magazine

In the published study, found in Science Advances, the researchers say that not only does the TEG use the warmth of your skin to create energy, the side that faces outward will also soak up and convert solar energy, when possible.

Image Credit: Science Magazine

Jianliang Xiao, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at CU Boulder, released a prepared statement.

“In the future, we want to be able to power your wearable electronics without having to include a battery.

Whenever you use a battery, you’re depleting that battery and will, eventually, need to replace it.

The nice thing about our thermoelectric device is that you can wear it, and it provides you with constant power.”

The technology uses your body’s natural conduction process, which maintains a constant temperature of 98.6 degrees F by walking a tightrope of heat gain and heat loss – but at a cost.

We lose around 75% of the energy we produce in the form of heat.

Image Credit: Science Magazine

The TEGs use that difference in the temperature of our bodies versus the surrounding air, to turn energy into power. They capture, in essence, the heat that’s coming off your skin before it disappears.

They can generate around one volt of energy for every square centimeter of skin space, which is less than a typical battery. That said, the larger the device, the more power, and researchers believe we would be able to do away with traditional batteries in our smartwatches, phones, fitness trackers, insulin pumps, pacemakers, you name it.

This is exciting not only for the medical and convenience benefits, but also in the fact that it’s cleaner, doesn’t use rare Earth metals, and doesn’t require corrosive materials – and it might not be that long until they’re available everywhere, according to Xiao.

“We’re trying to make our devices as cheap and reliable as possible, while also having as close to zero impact on the environment as possible.”

Five to ten years, y’all, and we’ll be using our own body’s energy to power our many devices. Wild, right?

The future is always closer than it seems.

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People Talk About Modern Practices That Will Be Seen as Horrible in 100 Years

I’m a huge Star Trek fan. It didn’t happen until I was in my very late 20’s, but I finally sat down and checked out The Next Generation and I was hooked.

Partially because of the engaging stories, partially for the imaginative sci-fi, and partially, and maybe most importantly for, the absolute sense of optimism and progress the series excluded.

Trek says that in the future of humanity, we’ll have done away with just about all that ails us. And I want to believe that. Which is why questions like this are so fascinating.

What do we do now that will be looked at as primitive and backwards in 100 years? from AskReddit

So, what are the next steps? What will we be discarding on the road to progress? Let’s ask Reddit.

1. Chemo

Using chemo therapy to treat cancer.

– CheetosnSalsa

2. Organ Transplants

Hopefully organ transplants.

Currently we take organs out of dead people to keep nearly dead people alive. Or living people who share an organ with someone nearly dead.

That’s why I’m here, my awesome aunt shared her liver with me.

– greffedufois

3. Toilet Paper

Wiping our *sses with toilet paper.

I am really looking forward to finding out what those 3 seashells do.

– ELPwork

4. Modern Psychology

Our field of psychology is actually woefully subjective and theoretical. We don’t even know for sure if some illnesses even really exist, or if they are a symptom of other illnesses or the result of multiple disorders occurring at once. We often have no idea if the medications which we prescribe for said possibly non-existent or misinterpreted illnesses will work. When Said medications do work, we often don’t why or how. We don’t even know what causes common well researched illnesses and disorders.

I believe that future generations will very much view our present grasp of psychology much like how we view alchemy in relation to chemistry. They knew there were natural processes between certain things that could produce an interesting, or even useful result, and they did use these results for practical purposes. They just really didn’t have any clue why or how any of it worked, and a TON of the stuff they held as “proven fact” we now realize was totally wrong.

– Vict0r117

5. Modern Gynecology

Gynecological practices that amount to “suck it up” and treat pain as an unimportant symptom.

– Shebolleth

6. Smoking

I was really surprised when I went to Europe how many people smoked. I met one co-worker who vaped, and he told me it was just catching on over there.

So many people smoked compared to the US. This was several years ago, but I imagine it will continue to go downhill.

– jajohns9

7. Antibiotics

Antibiotics. We basically use a WMD on our bodies to eliminate the single type of bacteria we’re targeting.

– Icedcoffeeee

8. Driving

Driving the cars ourselves. At the rate that self driving technology is going it’s probably gonna be about another 50 years before every car has it.

It will be the other 50 where it becomes the norm.

– Dumbdude22

9. The War on Drugs

Arrest and punish people for using drugs. The War On Drugs will be seen as huge Human Rights violation in 100 years.

– squarehipflask

10. The AR-15

The AR-15. In 100 years the phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range will be a much more elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

– ShadowDV

11. Weed Laws

Cannabis being illegal.

– TrooperJohn

12. Overworking

50+ hour work weeks

– pierso37

13. The Controversy Around Marriage Equality

Politically divisive social issues such as same-sex marriage will be something most people will likely take for granted.

People will look back on the controversy much how we look back on the suffragette movement.

– DarkReviewer2013

14. Everything

It is fair to assume that almost everything we do now will be considered barbaric in the future, and what is “normal” in the future would be considered horrifying by our standards.

– Ameisen

15. It’ll Just Get Worse?

Bold of you to assume that we won’t be primitive and backwards in 100 years.

– pourquoi-moi

Well that’s a cheery note to end on. Save us, Star Trek Universe!

What do you think will age badly?

Tell us in the comments.

The post People Talk About Modern Practices That Will Be Seen as Horrible in 100 Years appeared first on UberFacts.

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Stubborn Myths That Just Won’t Go Away For Some Reason

Did you know that the surface of Neptune was once all water?

I didn’t either, because it’s not true. I just made it up. But if I slapped that on a meme it might just spread around enough that a handful of people carried it around with them as though it were fact.

That’s why it’s important to check up on things before you spread ’em. Otherwise you end up with these:

What is a common myth that has been debunked but too many people still believe? from AskReddit

Debunkers of Reddit, do your thing.

1. You have to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report

There’s no law governing how long you have to wait before notifying the police of a missing person. It’s nonsense. File a report as soon as you suspect the person is missing or in danger.

Do you know how many wellness checks officers go on in a day? Call it in man…

– grammar_oligarch

2. We only use 10% of our brains

You actually use 100% of your brain.

Each section is responsible for controlling different functions of your body. For example, the Prefrontal Cortex controls, thoughts, memory and behavior.

The Parietal Lobe controls language and touch.

The Occipital Lobe controls, visual processing and the brain stem controls basic functions such as breathing and maintaining your heart rate.

– CrotchWolf

3. Shaving makes hair grow back thicker

When I was learning how to shave, I remember this one being debunked in a teen magazine.

What they said made sense. A new hair grows with a kind of pointed tip. When you shave, you cut off that part. So what is now growing is middle of the hair which is thicker.

I would also add, I started shaving before my hair was fully grown in (moving from per-adolescence to adulthood) and hair continues to come in thicker over time. So it has more to do with when females often start shaving compared to having reached full maturity.

– OctobersAutumn

4. Your hair and fingernails grow after you die

It’s mainly an optical illusion.

Your skin decays and shrinks, causing hair and fingernails to look like they’ve grown.

– CasinoKitten

5. The War of the Worlds radio broadcast caused mass panic

We all know the story: Orson Welles broadcast War of The Worlds over the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). But people only tuned in part way through, and heard the radio announcing that machines were landing in the country and were advancing and attacking. People panicked in the streets and thought aliens really were invading. There was hysteria on the streets, people were looting and traffic jams banked up as people tried to escape.

But it turns out, that isn’t really true. It turns out barely anyone actually listened to the broadcast, and the few that were listening knew it was Orson Welles and knew it was just a broadcasting of War of the Worlds. If there was anyone that did tune in and mishear it and panicked, it was nowhere near the hundreds and thousands that have been reported in this myth.

– LittlestSlipper55

6. Lightning never strikes in the same place twice

Yeah, that would basically invalidate lightning rods.

And I think that park ranger who’s been struck by lightning 6+ times would tend to disagree with that notion.

– MrLuxarina

7. NASA spent millions on space pens when they could have just used pencils

Before the Space Pen was developed, NASA used pencils in space (expensive custom-made mechanical pencils starting with the Gemini missions) and the Soviet space program used a mix of regular pencils and grease pencils […].

Both programs were aware of the potential problems with graphite dust, and both were dissatisfied with the writing quality (pencil smears a lot more easily than ballpoint ink, and grease pencil smears if you look at it funny), but they took their chances with the least-bad available options.

And once the space pen was developed by a private company, both space programs bought a bunch of them.

– Gyrgir

8. You swallow 8 spiders a year in your sleep

It was made up to prove how misinformation can spread so quickly over the internet.

– Dr_McKay

9. Vaccines are linked to autism

Debunked decades ago. The sole proponent lost his medical license over it.

Yet every anti-vaxx mom apparently knows someone whose friend’s cousin has a child who turned autistic after the measles vaccine and somehow not a single one has met this alleged autistic child but the story is of course 100 percent true and vaccines are terrible.

– whereismyporcupine

10. Everyone in the Middle Ages was literate

The study that influenced the idea determined literacy by the prevalence of books written in Latin, which only the upper class knew.

Most peasants could actually read and write in their own language.

– luke56slasher

11. We only recently learned the Earth was round

By around 500 B.C., most ancient Greeks believed that Earth was round, not flat. But they had no idea how big the planet is until about 240 B.C. when Eratosthenes devised a clever method of estimating its circumference.

He realized that if he knew the distance from Alexandria to Syene, he could easily calculate the circumference of Earth. But in those days it was extremely difficult to determine distance with any accuracy. Some distances between cities were measured by the time it took a camel caravan to travel from one city to the other. But camels have a tendency to wander and to walk at varying speeds. So Eratosthenes hired bematists, professional surveyors trained to walk with equal length steps. They found that Syene lies about 5000 stadia from Alexandria.

Eratosthenes then used this to calculate the circumference of the Earth to be about 250,000 stadia. Modern scholars disagree about the length of the stadium used by Eratosthenes. Values between 500 and about 600 feet have been suggested, putting Eratosthenes’ calculated circumference between about 24,000 miles and about 29,000 miles. The Earth is now known to measure about 24,900 miles around the equator, slightly less around the poles.

– JohnDax

12. 95% of the ocean is unexplored

It depends how you define ‘explored’.

People throw this figure around like 95% of the Earth’s ocean surface is just a huge blank spot on the map, or like there’s plenty of space for a surviving population of plesiosaurs to live where we just haven’t checked.

Neither of those things is remotely accurate.

– green_meklar

13. Fad diets are the most effective weight loss method

No, calorie deficit is the one responsible for weight loss no matter the diet.

– vox_verae

The more you know!

What else would you add to this list?

Tell us in the comments.

The post Stubborn Myths That Just Won’t Go Away For Some Reason appeared first on UberFacts.

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The Department of Defense Is Evaluating UFO Data That Might Be Released to the General Public

Anyone who grew up on “The X-Files” can’t help but think that “the truth is out there” was more than just a catchphrase.

And as it turns out, we could finally begin to learn a little bit more of that truth very soon.

I’ve never seen a UFO, unless you count the cow-abduction road signs in New Mexico.

But I definitely think it’s a little bit silly and hugely egotistical to assume that in the whole vast cosmos, our planet is the only one to sustain intelligent life.

It turns out, the U.S. government has seen enough unexplained evidence that they think so too.

Who that’s heard the audio of Australian pilot Fred Valentich’s encounter and subsequent disappearance can deny that something has visited us?

The U.S. government doesn’t refer to them as UFO’s anymore.

Maybe that’s considered a little too hokey and little-green-manish now, so they instead describe them as UAP or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, which can take in a broader range of encounters.

Just last year, after videos filmed by Navy pilots was leaked to the public, the Department of Defense established a new task force for investigating these phenomena, or UAPTF.

Not only that, but Popular Mechanics reports:

When Trump signed the coronavirus relief and government funding bill into law in December 2020, it contained the IAA for Fiscal Year 2021, which means the UAPTF must report its findings to Congress by June 25.

That’s June 25 of this year.

The Director of National Intelligence who served under President Trump at the time went on Fox News recently to talk about the project, and it sounds like he’s a believer too, stating that the reports will cover:

[UAP that make] “movements that are hard to replicate that we don’t have the technology for, or traveling at speeds that exceed the sound barrier without a sonic boom. In short, things that we are observing that are difficult to explain.”

The note about the sound barrier is particularly relevant.

Image credit: U.S. Navy, via Flickr

Here’s why, according to Popular Mechanics:

When an aircraft increases its speed, pressure waves build up on it and eventually coalesce into a single shockwave. When the plane outruns that shockwave and travels faster than the speed of sound in air, it causes a sudden change in pressure, which in turn creates the sonic boom. There’s no publicly available scientific data to suggest any aircraft can break the sound barrier without producing a sonic boom; while engineers can take steps to try to reduce sonic booms, physics says it’s impossible to outright eliminate it.

Which means that if the government has proof of aircraft that defy physics, then they have proof of civilizations more advanced than our own.

And so, although a watchdog group will be evaluating how the Pentagon handled UAP reports:

the Pentagon itself will be busy this month reviewing all the data they have been collecting under the UAPTF project ahead of that June deadline to release the information.

And it’s not all going to be blurry videos and darting shapes, either. There’s actual concrete data.

According to a source from The Debrief, a contributor to Popular Mechanics:

“Some of the best evidence acquired has come from measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), rather than from videos or still images.”

Suddenly I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for summer!

What do you think? All an elaborate hoax, or FINALLY some transparency?

Let us know in the comments!

The post The Department of Defense Is Evaluating UFO Data That Might Be Released to the General Public appeared first on UberFacts.