10 Common Misconceptions in Biology

1. Bats are not blind. This is an extremely widespread and common misconception, one which many people refuse to believe is untrue. In fact, while bats do use echolocation to move around in pitch black caves, all bat species are well capable of vision.
2. All parts of the tongue can taste all flavours. The myth that the tongue has localised taste centres for every type of flavour is a well propagated myth, even being taught to students in school. This biology misconception is attribute to a mistranslation of a German thesis, and the idea has stuck around ever since.
3. Chameleons do not change colour to match their surroundings. Chameleons are actually already naturally camouflaged to match their surroundings, and this colour change you can witness in them is actually used to reflect their physical and psychological well being. A frightened Chameleon, for example, will turn black.
4. People use more than 10 percent of their brains. While not all of the brain’s neurons will be firing and active at once, they are all extremely important. This common misconception is thought to have originated when people misunderstood the importance and usage of currently inactive neurons and took it to mean that those neurons were never used.
5. Humans did not evolve from monkeys. This was a misconception spread by anti-evolution activists in the 19th century, and it is a lie which is still used by creationists in the modern day. In fact, although we share over 94% of our DNA with chimpanzees, both humans and chimps evolved from the same animal, which could not have been regarded as a monkey in any way.
6. Goldfish can actually remember things. A lot of television shows portray Goldfish as being forgetful, and this common misconception has quickly spread to become very popular. It’s usually said that Goldfish can only remember things for 3 seconds, when in fact they have been trained to complete mazes and they can even recognise their owners after months of being apart.
7. Lemmings are not suicidal. There is a widespread and very common misconception which carries with it the image of lemmings jumping to their deaths in their hundreds. In fact, this myth was created by a Disney movie called White Wilderness. In this movie, Lemmings were swept off a cliff by the staff using brooms to get a particular shot.
8. You cannot get warts from toads. Warts which humans get are caused by viruses which are unique to humans. The lumps on toads are not warts and you cannot get warts from touching one.
9. If a person is waving their arms, they are not drowning. This is called “aquatic distress”, and if a person is capable of waving and calling for help they are not drowning. In fact, because of the human’s instinctive response to drowning, it is physically impossible for someone who is drowning to wave their arms and cry for help. This is why it is so easy to drown, because unless someone is trained to recognise the signs, nobody will notice.
10. You cannot turn one worm into two. Cutting a worm in half does not, despite common misconception, cause two worms to be created. A worm can survive being cut in half, but only one half will survive the dismemberment.

Other Common Misconceptions

• 10 Common Misconceptions in History
• Five Common Misconceptions in Physics