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

27. Different Parts Of Your Tongue Detect Different Tastes

No, actually they don't. Well, yes they do, but in the context of the belief held by most people who use this statement, it's actually not correct on two crucial points. Firstly, it suggests our tongues can only detect four tastes - sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Secondly, it claims the receptors for each of the taste senses are located at specific points on every tongue - sweet across the tip, then salty at left and right front, sour at left and right middle and, finally, bitter in the middle of the tongue towards the back. The reality is more chaotic but decidedly cleverer. Our tongues contain up to 10,000 taste buds, each containing pores with taste receptors. Each receptor has a mechanism for detecting chemicals in our saliva, which tells us what something tastes like. These cells are exactly the same all over our tongues. Plus, the exact same receptors are also on the roof of our mouth, on the upper side of our oesophagus and on our epiglottis. Whenever saliva containing food chemicals makes contact with any of these receptors, on whatever surface inside our mouths, its flavour will be detected. The myth is frequently propagated by pictures like the ones above. They're based on the original "Tongue Map" which was, itself, the result of a badly translated 1901 German publication called The Psychophysics of Taste. Not only was the tongue map flawed from the get-go, it became even less relevant in 1908 when science established that umami - a savoury or meaty flavour - was, indeed, the fifth taste sense. The tongue map was finally rendered completely irrelevant in 1974, with the formal publication of scientific findings that all tastes existed all over the tongue.

26. Daddy Longlegs Are The Most Venomous Spiders To Humans (But Can't Bite Us So Are Considered Harmless)

Nope, wrong on multiple levels... though not necessarily because the statement is incorrect or untrue. Firstly, Daddy Longlegs do indeed have venom, but to know that they're the most venomous spider suggests that someone, somewhere, at some time, reported having been bitten by one and that the results of the bite were examined and recorded. No such record exists anywhere in the world. There are also no records anywhere to indicate that toxicological tests on the effects of Daddy Longlegs Spider venom have never been undertaken on any kind of mammal whatsoever. As such, the toxicity of Daddy Longlegs venom to human beings can't be quantified because it's never actually been established. Therefore, the statement is not based in scientific fact. Secondly, the numerous variations on the assertion that Daddy Longlegs Spiders can't even bite humans have put it down to either the shape of their mandible, the short length of their fangs or simply that they're such small things that they just don't have the physical strength to pierce human skin. What's known for sure is that other spiders in the same family, of a similar size and also with short fangs have indeed successfully pierced human skin. What isn't known is whether or not a Daddy Longlegs Spider has ever done it successfully because, again, there are no examples of a bite from one ever having been recorded. At most, it's suspected that a bite from a Daddy Longlegs might see them injecting just enough venom to cause little more than a very briefly and very mild skin irritation. But, again, it's supposition because if it's ever happened, either nobody's noticed, it's never been reported to a medico or it's never been formally recorded in writing. So while it's true to say that the oft-heard claims about Daddy Longlegs aren't wrong per sé, neither do they have any basis in established fact.