5 "Facts" Everyone Repeats That Are Wrong

You've probably said at least one of these this year. Five "facts" that sound true, get repeated everywhere, and fall apart the moment you check the source. We're counting down from five, and number one is the one almost everyone believes.

On screen"5 facts. 5 fails." Fast cuts of each myth's title card.

Number five: bulls charge because they hate red. Bulls, like other cattle, are dichromatic. Their eyes have two kinds of colour receptors, not three, so red and green look much the same to them. C1 What sets a bull off is movement. In a 2007 MythBusters test, a moving blue flag drew a charge while a still red one didn't. C2 The matador waves the cape. That's the trigger.

B-rollSlow-motion cape swing. Split screen: full-colour view vs a two-colour view.

Number four: a goldfish forgets everything in three seconds. Researchers at Plymouth University trained goldfish to push a lever for food. When the lever only worked for one hour a day, the fish learned to push it at the right time. C3 Fish experts say goldfish keep memories for at least three months. C4 And in another experiment, fish trained to link a sound with feeding were released into the open sea, and the sound still brought them back. C5 The goldfish remembers. We're the ones who forgot to check.

B-rollGoldfish nudging a lever. A clock face ticking past one hour.

Number three: lightning never strikes the same place twice. The US National Weather Service says the opposite. Lightning often strikes the same place repeatedly, especially tall, pointed, isolated objects. The Empire State Building is hit an average of 23 times a year. C6 If anything, lightning has favourite spots.

On screenCounter ticking to "23 strikes a year" over a skyline at night.

Number two: you can see the Great Wall of China from space. The wall is long, about 4,500 miles, but it's built from stone and earth that blend into the land around it. C7 China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, said he didn't see it from orbit in 2003. Former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman never saw it either. C8 A few astronauts say they spotted it from low orbit, but only with the sun low and casting long shadows. And Neil Armstrong said he couldn't make out any human-made structures from the Moon. C9

On screenOrbit view zooming toward northern China; label "visible: rarely".

And number one: we only use ten percent of our brains. Neurologist Barry Gordon of Johns Hopkins calls this myth "so wrong it is almost laughable." C10 Brain imaging shows most regions are active over a 24-hour day, even during sleep. C11 The brain is about three percent of body weight but uses about 20 percent of the body's energy. C12 An organ that costly isn't sitting 90 percent idle.

B-rollBrain scan lighting up region by region while someone pours coffee.

Five facts, five fails. Before you repeat the next one, check the source. Which of these did you believe the longest? Tell me in the comments.

On screenAll five myths stamped with their verdicts. End screen.