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1. Disappearing blondes
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In 2002, BBC published material on a study of German scientists claiming people with blonde hair are born all less often, and after a couple of centuries, neither blondes nor blondes at all will stay.
And literally a year later, an article appeared in the New York Times on how the results of this study were falsified. Nonetheless, stupidity about disappearing blondes has taken root, and over these ten years repeated many times in various variations.
A similar myth appeared in 2007 thanks to “research” an organization called the Oxford Hair Foundation (founded hair dye manufacturer “Procter and Gamble”). According to the results of this “study” on the verge of extinction there is red hair color. The idea, as you might guess, was to improve sales of golden tones.
Meanwhile, the gene responsible for red hair is safely continues to be inherited and there is no reason worry that he will ever disappear
2. Lying stones
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In 1726, Johann Beringer, professor at the University of Wurzburg unveiled his sensational find: amazingly good preserved ancient stones with images of lizards, birds, spiders and even the name of God engraved in ancient language (today they known as “Lying stones”).
In several articles following this event, the professor developed own theory that images on stones could be created by God himself. Unfortunately for Beringer, mysterious stones turned out to be nothing more than a skillful fake, which they made colleagues of the professor who decided to avenge him for arrogance and self-confidence.
A wicked joke worked, but went so far that all subsequent trying to convince Beringer that the stones are just fake, were unsuccessful. The professor did not want to believe in anything that they simply joked at him, and even sued the “envious”. It was there that the whole truth about the rally and its participants surfaced. IN as a result, the scientific reputation of Beringer himself was destroyed, and colleagues playing a trick on him
3. The Ancient Robber of Liaoning
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In 1999, an article appeared in National Geographic magazine, dedicated to a fossil organism discovered in China, which called Archaeoraptor liaoningensis (translated as “the ancient robber of Liaoning”). Scientists assured that fossils are not nothing but the “missing link” by theropod dinosaurs and birds. It later turned out that the sensational find – a fake, assembled from fragments of real fossils of different species and issued as the remains of one animal
4. Scam Sokal
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Professor of Mathematics at University College London and Physics at New York University Alan Sokal became famous in wide circles, mainly due to the mystification that went down in history like the Sokal scam. Sokal decided to check whether it can be published in a serious scientific publication of absolute nonsense, if you come up with it pretentious title and fill with scientific terms.
As a result, an article appeared in the respected Social Text. titled Breaking the Boundaries: Toward Transformative Hermeneutics quantum gravity. “Deprived of any meaning philosophical ranting did not bother anyone. And after a while in in another magazine, Sokol himself revealed the truth about his rally, noting that it would be nice for humanities scientists to rely in their work on common sense
5. The Killer Tree
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In 1783, a note appeared in London Magazine about a killer tree that supposedly grows in Indonesia. This is a tree, – it was said in the article – so poisonous that it destroys all living things fifteen miles (almost 25 kilometers) around him. Whole earth around this tree is dotted with skeletons of unfortunate people and animals, accidentally wandered into “his” territory.
The truth is: A poisonous tree does exist. True, in spite of the toxins it contains, kill anyone else unable to – even if you lean against it. As a last resort, the poisoner is threatened with weakness, and even then not for long. And here is the juice of this tree, if you take it inside, can really kill. Local the population smeared arrowheads and spears with this juice
6. Villejuif List
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About 30 years ago, a document called “The Villejuif List.” It was a list of food additives divided into groups according to the degree of benefit or harm to health. Nobody knew who made this list and what purpose. pursued. The very first known copy appeared in 1976, and at the very peak of popularity this list was not guided by less than half of french housewives. In addition to France, the list was in go to England, Germany, Italy, the Middle East and Africa.
The problem is that the information in this document was clearly taken from the ceiling. It even called “citric acid,” a carcinogen, which is naturally present in all living organisms. According to a survey conducted in France, 19 percent of housewives of this country stopped buying products containing substances, listed on this list as “harmful.” That is, some it is unknown by whom the written paper influenced the diet, at least least seven million people
7. The prolific Shen
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German physicist Yang Hendrik Schön became famous after several made alone discoveries in the field of microelectronics. Each the discovery was accompanied by a detailed report on the carried out by Shen experiments that supposedly fully confirmed justice of his scientific theories.
At the peak of his fame in 2001, he presented to the scientific community, on average, one report every eight days. His articles were readily published by leading scientific publications, he even received several prestigious awards: Otto-Klung-Weberbank Prize for Physics (2001), Braunschweig Prize (2001) and Outstanding Award achievements of young scientists (2002).
However, Shen did not succeed in staying at the pinnacle of fame for a long time. Soon, other researchers began to find in his work one inconsistency after another. In the end, it turned out that the results almost all experiments of the young “genius” were falsified. A scandal erupted. Shong’s doctorate was revoked, but the swindler managed to return her through the court. After that, the University, in whom he defended, appealed, and Shen lost his second time degree
8. Piltdown man
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The skull of the so-called Piltdown Man was found in 1912 year. Soon it was announced that the fossilized remains belong ancient, previously unknown humanoid. In the next few decades, no less than 250 studies have been devoted to this “find”, which many scientists considered the missing link evolution, combining the features of both ape and man. But only 50 years later, it turned out that the skull of the famous Piltdown man’s “is just a hoax, and that he was combined from fragments of human skull and jaw of a medieval orangutan
9. Fijian mermaid
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Fijian Mermaid was the pride of the Phineas wonders collection Barnum. The owner of the museum claimed that this was a mummified body. a real mermaid and to many people it seemed quite convincing what they saw. In the end, it turned out to be amazing the exhibit is just a fish tail sewn to the head and torso young monkey
10. Alien autopsy
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In the early 1990s, American broadcaster Fox showed a short a film about how the autopsy of the alleged body an alien. Then these same frames showed several more channels. And only after 15 years, the author of the plot admitted that it was fake
11. The Giant of Cardiff
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The Giant of Cardiff is one of the most famous hoaxes. This the story began with the fact that in the mid-19th century a convinced atheist named George Hull argued with the Methodist priest about the lines from Genesis, which refers to the giants that once inhabited the Earth. Not having achieved much success in the dispute, Hull decided to play a trick on priest and hired a stonecutter who carved a stone for him sculpture more than three meters tall. The finished statue was buried in his cousin’s yard.
And after a while, Hull started building a well in that the very place where the stone giant lay.
The news of a sensational find spread around the world. Look at the giant there were so many comers that Hull set up an admission. And then sold his fake for 23 thousand dollars (half a million in translation for current money). Wherever a giant is displayed, it invariably gathered crowds of spectators. In the end, Hull admitted that it was only a draw. However, by that time, many scientists had long been This was said, but the public was more pleasant to believe in a miracle
12. Artifacts of Fujimura
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Shinichi Fujimura, although he was self-taught, was considered one of leading Japanese archaeologists. In the early 1980s he began to find amazing artifacts, and each subsequent find turned out to be older than the previous one. In the end, he discovered artifact whose estimated age was about 600 thousand years. That is, it was the oldest evidence of presence man on earth.
However, soon several journalists caught the archaeologist on the spot crimes “when he personally instilled” ancient artifacts “- in order to then find them in front of surprised colleagues. Fujimur’s reputation has been destroyed
Time Ancient artifacts Stones Mermaid Birds Stones
