10 common fallacies & misconceptions about biology!!
- Human have blue coloured blood in veins
In reality, there is no blue human blood. The misconception is that the oxygenated blood is red and the deoxygenated blood is blue in colour. And thus veins carry blue blood. But the fact is that the veins carrying deoxygenated blood appears blue from the skin surface. Light from outside illuminates veins to appear light through the layers of skin. It is not the colour of blood which is blue. The fact is oxygenated blood is dark red in colour and the deoxygenated appears a little lighter red than the oxygenated blood.
- Abiogenesis is false
The most common misconception is that evolution is no true and the origin of life is not known. Abiogenesis is a process in which life arises from non-living substance. There is no strong evidence explaining this theory. Abiogenesis is hugely hidden in mystery because the fossils and remains of first living organism could not be found. It is believed that bacteria was the first to exist. Prior to this, it was conjectured that first life was made of RNA. In fact, the DNA replication also uses RNA primers. A single RNA can help decode itself and assemble itself.
- Humans evolved from chimpanzees
No humans did not evolve from chimps. The fact is humans, chimps and gorillas all have evolved from a common ancestor named Nakali-ape (Nakalipithecus Nakayama). Since they all have a common origin they share a few common characteristics. This common features among them lead to a misconception about humans evolution.
- Evolution of higher organisms from bacteria
In reality, there is no such thing as evolutionary progress. There is always the classification of organisms into two categories namely ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ creatures. This just means any creature close to humans is considered as higher and the lesser one as lower. This is a kind of illogical division. There is a lot of differences and complexities between unicellular and multicellular organisms. So if there is any evolution happening it should be from the creatures of the same kind. The fact remains that bacteria and higher organisms like mammals are not related to the matter of evolution.
- There are only five senses
Since childhood, it has been inculcated that we have five kinds of senses. Smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing are not the only senses in our body. There are many other senses also. There is a sense of pain, sense of balance, sense of internal discomfort and many more.
- There is more hair growth after shaving
Shaving increases hair growth is the most common misconception among people. They believe that by shaving or cutting hair it makes it grow denser and thicker next time. The two main reasons behind this myth is that the growth of hair is barely noticed when the hair is already present. The second reason is the end of hair are dull and worn out. So when it is cut it appears sharper and coarser.
- Taste buds
Taste buds are just not present on the tongue but they are spread over the throat and the upper pallet. The most common belief is that the different taste buds are sectioned along the tongue. Different tastes like sweet, sour, bitter and salty have their respective taste buds present only in the part of tongue. But the fact is that these different taste buds are present all over our mouth.
- Theory of evolution.
According to definitions, theory is described as a “guess” or one that is grounded on facts. In science, aspect theory means explanations made based on a large amount of evidence. Considering gravitational theory as an example, the gravitational effects and fields regarding different objects in all mediums are well explained with facts and observations. The evolutionary theory is believed by many people it is just not a “guess”.
- Sizes of small intestine and large intestine
It is one of the common misconception that small intestines are small and large intestines are large. But the fact is it is vice versa. Large intestine is 5 feet long and has 3-inch diameter. Whereas small intestine is 20 feet long and has 0ne inch diameter.
- Bats are blind
Bats are certainly not blind. The common information known to all of us is that bats use biological sonar to find their prey as they are blind. The fact remains that bats have good vision and they can pretty much see. Bats are categorised into two groups namely microbats and megabats. Megabats only rely on their vision as they don’t have sonar capabilities. Microbats have sonar echoing as well as good night vision. When there is any hindrance in sonar ranging it is always its excellent vision helping in catching it is pray. So this proves that bats are not blind.
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