Have an apple

11 Medical myths we keep believing (but really shouldn't)

Image: Nikolai Chernichenko

Medicine is complicated, and it's easy for folklore, memes, and half-remembered advice to creep their way into our collective subconscious. Some of these myths are harmless, others are misleading, and many are downright dangerous. Let's take a look at 11 medical misconceptions that have endured over time, and that you've probably believed at one time or another.

Image: Isabella Fischer

..keeps the doctor away, right? Apples are healthy. They are full of fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. But, as you probably know, they aren't enough to ward off disease on their own. The phrase originated in 19th-century Wales as "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread." The rhyme is charming, but fortunately, doctors still get plenty of bread.

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That satisfying pop comes from collapsing gas bubbles in the fluid of your joints, not from your bones grinding to dust. Decades of peer-reviewed research show no link between knuckle-cracking and arthritis or bone deterioration. It might be irritating for those around you, but not bad for your joints.

Image: Guus Baggermans

It does feel that way, but it's only an optical illusion: the new growth feels blunt and coarse when compared to a tapered hair tip. However, the follicles themselves are unaffected by shaving. Your hair’s growth rate and thickness are determined by genetics.

Image: Andra C Taylor Jr

This one is nothing more than a parental scare-tactic propaganda. Gum is indeed indigestible, but it doesn’t remain trapped inside you forever. It passes through your digestive tract quite efficiently, just like corn or sunflower seeds. Certainly in days, not 7 years.

Image: Angelo Casto

Although carrots are good for overall eye health, the myth that they have the power to give you night vision stems from a little bit of British World War II propaganda. The British Royal Air Force claimed that their pilots had uncannily good night accuracy because of their carrot-heavy diets. In reality, it was a cover story to conceal their use of radar technology.

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Neither black coffee nor cold showers can accelerate the rate at which your body metabolizes alcohol. Ask any doctor for a recipe to sober up quickly, and they will tell you the sad, sad truth: it's impossible.

Plenty of people claim to have found a trick to solve this problem. However, no matter how many freezing showers you take, they will only make you cold, wet, and awake, but still drunk.

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Well, it depends on who you ask. There’s a long list of home remedies: hold your breath, drink water upside down, have a friend scare you, and so on. While some of these techniques might help by resetting your diaphragm, the truth is that most hiccups fade on their own within minutes. And if they don’t, you’re better off seeing a doctor than cycling through an endless number of folk cures.

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In reality, apple seeds contain amygdalin, which the body can convert into toxic cyanide (not arsenic). However, the amount of amygdalin in apple seeds is tiny: you would need to crush and eat over 150 apple seeds to get anything close to a dangerous dose. Or you could simply avoid eating the seeds altogether.

In any case, apples are far better at keeping the doctor away than they are at poisoning you.

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If you do, you'll catch a cold. Or that's what this myth would have us believe. In fact, wet hair in chilly weather will just make you uncomfortable.

As we know, colds are caused by viruses that get into our systems. Being cold or damp doesn't conjure viruses out of thin air. That being said, lowering your body's temperature might weaken your immune defenses slightly, but the real culprits are still unequivocally the germs.

Image: Shubham Dhage

A Hollywood myth that has crawled deep into our collective imagination. While the exact origin of the phrase is unclear, it is often associated with the lectures of Harvard psychologist William James, who told audiences that we only tap a fraction of our full potential during the 1890s. The idea then evolved and spread through self-help and motivational literature, eventually becoming the widely believed claim we know today.

Scientific research has thoroughly debunked this notion. While the inner workings of much of our brain are still unknown to us, we do know that virtually all of it has a function, and we use 100% of it.

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A Thanksgiving classic, people like to blame their festive drowsiness on the turkey. There is some scientific basis for this: turkey does contain tryptophan, an amino acid that promotes sleep.

However, the amount in turkey is minimal and no greater than that found in chicken or beef. The real culprits behind your post-dinner nap are the carb overload, extra drinks, and day-long festivities—not the turkey itself.

HIGH SCORES AND NOSTALGIA

Let's Remember The 10 Best Arcade Games

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While today's virtual recreation options are many and varied, the arrival of arcade games in the early 1970s revolutionized the entertainment world and left a mark on entire generations. It's impossible not to feel a bit nostalgic when thinking of these incredible games. From the revolutionary Pac-Man to other iconic Donkey Kong, we all had our favorites. What was yours?

Today, we have compiled 10 of the best arcade games to bring back the joy and excitement they once gave us. Let's play!

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Outer space and its possibilities were a recurring theme in the 1970s games. You probably already know which one we are talking about now. You guessed it right: it's the unforgettable Space Invaders.

Released by Taito Corporation in 1978, this game was so fun and addictive that it quickly became a hit. With a classic format, players had to shoot a laser at invading ships coming from the top of the screen. Space Invaders was one of the first games to track high scores, which unleashed a competitive fever among players.

Adrenaline, tension, and fun were combined in this great game that defined the idea of "shooting games" and marked the childhood and adolescence of many of us.

Image: Senad Palic

Continuing with the space theme, another classic arcade game appeared in 1979, the mythical Asteroids by Atari.

If fighting against various enemies and obstacles was your thing, you've played Asteroids. In this classic, players had a ship that traversed space among asteroids and enemy flying saucers. Avoiding collisions with asteroids and attacking rival ships was a big challenge.

However, the level of difficulty didn't make Asteroids players any less passionate. From the beginning, this game found success, gaining a loyal fan base and becoming one of the best-selling games of its time.

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This list would never be complete without mentioning one of the most popular games of all time: the legendary Pac-Man.

Pac-Man, played around the world by people of all ages, genders, and nationalities, was a revolution in the world of video games.

Released by Namco in 1980, this arcade game was an instant hit, and it elevated its iconic and colorful characters to global fame: the one and only Pac-Man and his "adversaries" Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. Do you remember them all?

Image: Kelly Sikkema

In 1981, Nintendo launched a game that would become an absolute success: Donkey Kong.

In this classic arcade game, a particular character named Jumpman had to overcome stairs and other obstacles to save the damsel Paulina from the formidable Donkey Kong. But do you know who this Jumpman was? That's right! He later became the iconic video game figure known as Mario Bros. While he was not yet called Mario in this game, it marked his debut as the popular character we know today.

Donkey Kong was one of the first arcades to include a series of diverse and challenging levels, and it became one of the best-selling games at the time!

Image: Ben Neale

In 1981, Sega released a game developed by Konami that quickly conquered gamers. In Frogger, players used the famous joystick to control the little frogs through congested routes and tricky obstacles and get them back home. As the game progressed, the obstacles increased in speed and difficulty, making it not only fun and addictive but also very dynamic!

Due to its simplicity and lack of violence, this game was a hit regardless of the gender and age of the players.

But there is one thing that will instantly bring this game to mind: its iconic music! Do you remember it?

Image: Isaiah Schultz

Two years after the successful Pac-Man, the arcade witnessed the debut of the iconic Ms. Pac-Man!

That's right, Pac-Man's girlfriend also had her own game, and it had nothing to envy the original. Released by Midway in 1982, Ms. Pac-Man came out as a sequel game and was one of the first video games to have a female protagonist.

This game was very well received by gamers at the time, as it had everything they loved about Pac-Man, plus several improvements. A bit more challenging than the original, Ms. Pac-Man featured the beloved female protagonist and the four ghosts, this time called Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Sue.

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Of course, we can't forget to include a video game celebrity: the one and only Mario Bros.

As we already mentioned, Mario's first appearance in a game didn't even feature his name in the title, and he went by a different name. But his character in Donkey Kong was so well received that Nintendo decided to develop a video game for the beloved Mario.

Mario Bros., released for arcades in 1983, had not only Mario but also his co-star, his funny little brother Luigi, fighting and jumping in each level against obstacles and enemies.

Mario Bros. became a very popular arcade game in its time and was the starting point for the development of the legendary franchise that now bears that name.

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When it comes to fighting games, Street Fighter II -released in arcades in 1991 by Capcom- gets a special mention among arcade classics.

Unlike Street Fighter I and other games that preceded it, Street Fighter II allowed the players to choose from a diverse group of characters, all fighting to become the best warrior in the world. At the same time, each character had unique abilities and characteristics. If you had the chance to play it, you probably remember some of them, such as Ryu, Ken, or Chun-Li.

In addition to its multiplicity of characters, Street Fighter II presented innovative features like the "combo system" (allowing players to apply several attacks in a row) and the "versus mode" (with which you could challenge a friend to play). Thus, this game marked the path that fighting games would take in the following decades.

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But in 1992, we welcomed a game that, for many experts, not only surpassed Street Fighter but also became an emblem of fighting games.

We are talking about the unforgettable Mortal Kombat, with its legendary and fearsome characters that include Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Raiden, and Sonya, among others. In addition, each character had an interesting backstory that revealed a certain depth in the characters' crafting.

But what really set Mortal Kombat apart was its unusual level of graphical violence, which naturally attracted many gamers. Do you remember the "fatalities"? Did you have a favorite character?

Image: Karsten Winegeart

If sports games were your thing, you probably played NBA Jam. This classic was released in 1993 by Midway Games and was undoubtedly very well received by the public.

Among its best features was the possibility of choosing between real NBA players of that time, making fans get excited every time they could play.

On the other hand, the graphics style and the game speed were some of the most valued features among the players.

Remember the "Boomshakalaka!" and "He's on Fire!" by Tim Kitzrow? What a time!