We just know that we know nothing

Are mosquitoes animals? 12 facts that people get wrong

No one can claim to know everything, but most people go through life confident about certain things. However, some of these widely held beliefs are not actually correct, despite their popularity. Let’s have a look at some "facts" you might have gotten wrong!

The idea that insects—particularly mosquitoes—are not animals is widespread, but it’s also incorrect. In fact, insects are the most diverse group within the Animal kingdom, with more than a million species described and representing more than half of the animal population of the planet.

The mistake comes from not considering that "fruit" is not only a culinary term but also a botanical one. Botanically, a fruit is the part of a plant that develops from a flower and contains seeds. This makes tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, and many other foods that we call vegetables actually fruits in the scientific sense.

Countries have a political delimitation, while continents are divided according to geographical criteria. The Russian Federation is the largest country on Earth, bordering fourteen other countries and extending across eleven time zones. It spans across a good part of Eastern Europe, but also across the Ural mountains—one of the recognized borders between Europe and Asia—and stretches deep into northern Asia.

While cold weather isn’t harmless, it is not the direct cause of illnesses like the flu, which are caused by viruses. In colder months, people tend to spend more time indoors and often avoid ventilating rooms, creating conditions that make it easier for viruses to spread and cause illness.

Bats might not prefer to be out during bright daylight, but this does not mean that they are blind. In fact, many species have excellent eyesight, though it is adapted to low-light or nighttime conditions. On top of that, bats also use echolocation, which allows them to navigate and hunt with remarkable precision in complete darkness.

The belief that you must wait a full day before reporting someone missing is a myth popularized by movies and TV shows. In reality, the law does not require a waiting period. In fact, law enforcement agencies stress that the first 24 hours are often the most critical, so a missing person should be reported immediately.

Some man-made structures are visible from space without magnification, but despite popular belief, the Great Wall of China is not one of them. While it is quite long, being over 13,000 miles long, it is relatively narrow, and its earthy colors blend in with the surrounding landscape, making it nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye from orbit.

This one is tricky: Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth (29,032 feet)… if you measure the distance from sea level to peak. For the actual tallest mountain, the answer might vary depending on how you measure. Measured from base to summit, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest at 33,474 feet—though much of it is underwater. Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska rises about 18,000 feet from its base to the peak, making it the tallest mountain entirely above sea level. And Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo, while shorter in height, is the farthest point on Earth from the planet’s center due to the equatorial bulge.

The Earth is tilted on an axis, which causes the amount of sunlight each hemisphere receives to change as it orbits the Sun. Because of this tilt, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun and experiences summer, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away and experiences winter—and vice versa. This is why the Southern Hemisphere celebrates Christmas during summer.

Standard medical advice is to gently guide a sleepwalker back to bed rather than waking them, but not because waking them is inherently dangerous. People tend to sleepwalk during deep sleep, so waking them up might startle them or cause confusion and disorientation.

Hair color and thickness are determined by genetics, not by shaving. Hair naturally gets thin at the ends, so when you shave it, the hair shaft appears to be thicker and darker because of the blunt cut. But it's just an optical illusion; the natural size of the shaft remains unchanged.

Coffee is a natural diuretic, meaning it can increase trips to the bathroom. However, the water in brewed coffee still contributes to your hydration and offsets its mild diuretic effect. If you consume coffee in moderation—3 to 5 cups a day, depending on your tolerance—you should be alright. However, drinking extra water on the side is never a bad idea.

Words travel fast

12 English words that other languages have adopted as their own

Image: Daniel Fazio

Just in the same way as English speakers have adopted many foreign words into their daily lexicon, many English words have been adopted by other languages as well. The following 12 are loan words that can be heard all over the world in non-English conversations. Some are known examples, some will definitely surprise you.

Image: Jonas Leupe

Germans can refer to their mobile phones as "handy". And, while this word is more associated with radio transmitters to English speakers, it is not unreasonable to call those hand-held devices, handies.

Image: Rosa Rafael

Another word Germans borrowed from the English language, peeling is not used in the sense of peeling a banana, but rather is used to describe a body scrub or an exfoliator.

Image: Mathieu Renier

The very elegant French language has adopted a few English words into its daily vocabulary, and parking is one of them. But with the added "le" article before, adding some charm to the term: le parking.

Image: Justin Morgan

Interestingly, France is one of the few countries that tried to translate and incorporate technology-related terms, but eventually gave up and started using the English versions. For a while, emails were referred to as "courriels", before reverting back to email.

Image: Scott Goodwill

A language with roots as ancient as Latin, Italian lacks many words describing modern things. And one of these is the one used to describe this joyous outdoor activity, camping. Therefore, when Italians want to spend a night in a tent, or under the stars, they call it camping.

Image: Redd Francisco

Another word Italians have borrowed from the English language is "meeting", but in a business sense. If Italians get together more informally, they call it a riunione.

Image: Alex McCarthy

When Spanish people talk about a good footing, they are not referring to a solid foundation, but (as it does in other languages as well) to a good jogging session.

Image: Hédi Benyounes

In Spanish-speaking countries, talking about autostop does not mean some kind of automatic shutdown or anything like that, but, instead, it means to hitchhike.

Image: John Schnobrich

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that this is a relatively new word and almost no other language has created a word of its own to describe it. But, in any case, most languages around the world use the English word to describe the mother of all digital networks.

Image: Sincerely Media

Danish people borrowed the word weekend untranslated from the English language and adopted it as their own because they lacked a similar concept when the five-day work week was introduced.

Image: Brooke Cagle

Dutch is a very complex language to learn, but luckily for us, at least some of its words are borrowed from simpler languages, like English. The Dutch word for women’s tights is, simply, panty.

Image: Tim van der Kuip

The Japanese have a word for white-collared salaried workers that is pronounced sarariman. If this word sounds oddly similar to "salary man", it’s because it is a loan word from the English language, partly modified for an easier adaptation into the Japanese language.