35 False 'Facts' That You Wrongly Believe (And 1 That You Should)

3. Body Heat Dissipates Mainly Through The Head

Actually it doesn't. There are lots of reasons put forward for why you might lose most of your body heat via the head - because there are loads of blood vessels in the scalp, there's lots of blood circulation for the brain up there, there's not much fat up there, but none of them are accurate. The bottom line is that we have to lose heat from our bodies to regulate our thermostats, but we can also help trap body heat if we need to. In fact our heads only account for 10% of our total body surface. If we were to lose say, 70% of our body heat through our heads it would need to lose about 40 times as much heat as any other part of our body, which isn't just unlikely, it's impossible. The only two caveats are at the beginning of exercise, when the head accounts for 50% of all heat lost from the body, and when shivering and being treated for hypothermia, when the head can account for up to 55% of heat loss. Both scenarios are unique and occur for specific reasons. At virtually any other time, heat escapes the head in the same volumes as through any other exposed surface. If you're outside in a particularly cold environment and you find your head is the only cold part of your body, it's most likely because it's pretty cold and every part of your body is covered except for your head. The answer could be as simple as putting on a warm hat and you should soon find that the heat isn't escaping your head any faster than its escaping anywhere else!

2. Mars Is Red

Contrary to popular belief, it actually isn't. Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, named after the Roman god of war. There's a prevalence of iron oxide on the planet's surface. From a distance all the rusty-coloured dust that's getting about in the atmosphere gives the whole planet a reddish appearance. It's that apparent colouring that made the planet so identifiable from Earth many centuries ago and one of the first names allocated to the planet was "Har decher", an Egyptian term meaning "Red One". Avid star-watchers claim Mars doesn't appear at all red when viewed through a telescope, while higher definition photographs captured by the Hubble telescope or robotic expeditions to the planet's surface have revealed that, up close, the environment is more of a butterscotch colour, with other colours present including gold, brown, tan and a greenish colour. Conversely those same robotic expeditions have shown that, under certain conditions, the planet's surface and sky can both appear to be red. So while Mars made be 'the' red planet, whether it's actually 'a' red planet remains open for to debate.