"Any suitable advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
- Arthur C. Clarke

The Bad Science Quiz
By Nicholas J. Johnson

How good are you at spotting Bad Science? Can you tell your science fact from your science fiction? Take this True or False test with your students to see whether your school needs a visit from the Bad Science show.

Highlight the space below the question using the cursor to reveal the answers!

Question 1: True or false, gum takes seven years to pass through the body.

FALSE - Whilst the body does struggle to digest gum, it can quite easily pass it through the bodies digestive system.

Question 2: True or false, a light bulb can burn for over one hundred years.

TRUE - The Livermore Fire Station in the US has a light bulb that has been burning since 1907.

Question 3: True or false, going swimming after eating might give a cramp that causes you to drown.

FALSE - Whilst you might get a slight cramp from swimming with a full stomach, there have been no deaths or serious accidents on record.

Question 4: True or false, hair grows back thicker and longer after being shaved.

FALSE - Whilst hair feels thicker when it grows back as stubble, there is no evidence to support the claim that the hair grows longer or has a great diameter then previously.

Question 5: True or false, adults can not grow new brain cells

FALSE - Adults can readily grow new brain cells through their lives. They just don't always know how to use them.

Question 6: True or false, a duck's quack does not echo.

FALSE - A duck's quack can most definately echo. However, since it is a quiet sound, it is unlikely the sound would be heard if a duck were pointed over a cliff. Please don't try it. The duck will not enjoy it.

Question 7: True or false, it is possible for a human voice to break a glass

TRUE - Whilst it very difficult, it is technically possible for a human voice to match the resonance of a wine glass at cause it to break. The glass must also have a tiny flaw in it.

Question 8: True or false, fire can burn in zero gravity.

True - Fire burns in zero gravity but it looks very different because the flow of air in zero gravitiy changes making the flame almost invisible.

Question 9: True or false, bananas can get sunburnt.

True - Often brown spots on a banana are not decay from aging but sun damage. Bananas should only ever go out in the sun with hat, sun screen and sun glasses.

Question 10: True or false, flowers suck the oxygen out of hospital rooms.

False - It is beyond me why anybody would believe this. Flowers absorb carbon dioxide and expel oxygen, not the other way around!

How many science myths did you believe? How many strange truths did you dismiss as fallacy?

The Bad Science show will help your students to spot Bad Science in advertising, books, television and even quizzes like this one.

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Castle, Sue. Old Wive's Tales. New York. Citadel, 1992

Kingsley, Philip. "The Truth About Hair." Sunday Times. 20 October, 2002 (pg 32)

Johnson, Nicholas. " Chew On This." The Washingston Post. 1 August, 2000 (pg 13)

http://www.livescience.com/health/051227_neuron_growth.html

"True or False" Scientific America, 23 August, 2007 (pg 47)

Ker Than, "Adult Brain Cells Do Keep Growing." LiveScience, 27 December 2005