20 Scientific Facts That Sound Too Fake To Be Taken Seriously


There are many things about the world that we don’t understand. It’s a mysterious place and we use science to help us figure things out. While there’s still so much left to comprehend, there are still certain scientific discoveries that come to light which sound ridiculously baffling. Recently, Redditors shared the most unbelievable facts they know to be true despite how silly it sounds and we’ve collated the list in the gallery below. 

#1 Most of psychology and neurology sound like absolute b******t once you read into at first, and then there’s just this disgusting mountain of evidence in your face.

Image source: Themurlocking96, freepik Like just look at ADHD, for an ADHD person the reason they didn’t do something can QUITE LITERALLY be “my brain didn’t *let* me do it” and it’s not bs, like it’s a thing called executive dysfunction which is the brain not know what or how to do something or start or a lot of other things and then just doesn’t. It the outside observer it looks like laziness, and that they’re just slacking off scrolling their phone or watching stuff, but inside is an entire monologue of said person screaming at themselves to just do the thing, but they can’t. It’s also not just for important or menial tasks, they’ll “procrastinate” on things they want to do, like playing a video game or reading a good book. It can often feel like “Locked In Syndrome” a condition where you’re locked inside your own body as an observer.

#2 Mycelium. You're telling me the 'roots' of mushrooms act as a big message delivery system that not only allows information to be sent large distances across a single specimen but can also be used by connected TREES to communicate with each other and swap nutrients???

Image source: TheGayestSlayest, wirestock This is an oversimplification and mycelium absolutely does not think (isn't sentient) like humans do-- however, I am not exaggerating just how implausible it all sounds. There are some amazing mushroom documentaries out there and it still baffles me.

#3 Ever heard of epigenetics? It sounds like pseudoscience with its talk of genes being turned on and off by environmental factors, but it’s a legit field of study. It’s all about how lifestyle and environment can influence gene expression without altering the DNA sequence itself.

Image source: MeteorMystic, digitale.de

#4 It's really hard to drown in quicksand, but rather easy in a grain silo.

Image source: Woodie626, Arches National Park

#5 You absorb more nutrients from cooked eggs than you do from raw eggs. People don’t believe it because cooking eggs actually does reduce the amount of nutrients. BUT cooking them changes the protein structures and makes it easier for your body to actually absorb them.

Image source: UnderstandingFun5200, DreamWorks Pictures It’s called Protein Denaturation and it increases the bioavailability of the proteins. Bioavailability describes what is actually available for your body to digest and absorb. More nutrients doesn’t necessarily mean more bioavailability and less nutrients doesn’t necessarily mean less bioavailability.

#6 The bacteria in your intestine exist to digest the foods you usually eat. If you stop eating those foods, the bacteria will die, so they send a message to your brain, causing you to crave those foods. If you're trying to give up french fries, for example, it will take about 4 weeks to kill all the bacteria accustomed to digesting that food, and you will continue to crave it while they live.

Image source: SexyFrancesca4365, Annushka Ahuja It also may be possible to lose weight by getting a fecal transplant from a thin person. The only problem is, it is also possible to get a mental illness (potentially) from that same person, so they should be screened carefully.

#7 Placebo effect - your mind can genuinely heal your body just by believing it works.

Image source: DblockDavid

#8 VISUALIZING AND MIRROR NEURONs!! Research has showed that visualizing is actually incredibly powerful. It activates both motor neurons and mirror neurons. Watching someone do a squat with good form and visualizing yourself executing that same motion with good form are almost the same to your brain as physically doing it.

Image source: SadQueerBruja, DC Studio So if you’re working out, learning a dance etc. watch videos of other people doing it. Close your eyes and visualize yourself doing it, moving through the motion and then when you go to do it, it will be easier!

#9 The illusory truth effect. People will believe something *just* because it is repeated, even when they know that what's being said is not true.

Image source: ayatollahofdietcola_, Roman Kraft

#10 Red heads need more Anaesthesia than non-read heads. (Not sure if this fits the bill, but it’s always been fascinating to me!).

Image source: explorerdoraaaaaa, Old Youth

#11 When an amputee is experiencing phantom limb pains, massaging their stump and then the space where the limb was actually does help reduce the pains, especially if the person is already on the maximum dosage of pain meds and can't have anymore. Hearing the hands against the sheets where the limb would be tricks the brain into thinking that it's still there, so it stops the nerves from overfiring as much.

Image source: SailorVenus23, ShotPot

#12 The lead-crime hypothesis. There was a massive increase in violent crime in a lot of countries between the 60s and the 90s that then disappeared, correlating with the addition and removal of leaded gasoline. You can google some studies that show a range of results, and there’s a good magazine article here. https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/02/an-updated-lead-crime-roundup-for-2018/.

Image source: iacte, kat wilcox

#13 The effect on your dopamine receptors from fantasizing/ imagining things. I forget the exact term. As it turns out, you can achieve a pretty high dopamine response from fantasizing/ imagining/ talking about goals, which can provide your brain with enough happy chemicals to actually HINDER your drive to go and achieve those things for real. This sounds like b******t, but it’s true.

Image source: Degen_Boy, olia danilevich

#14 Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). essentially, you look at a moving light or object in the therapy room as you process painful memories (as in PTSD and related trauma disorders). it's very effective for most people and typically works faster than traditional therapeutic models. sometimes the relief is apparent even after one session.

Image source: taurussy, RDNE Stock project It's broadly applied, too. PTSD, anxiety disorders, phobia, dissociative disorders....EMDR is indicated for a wide variety of life challenges. privately, i call it the "little miracle". there are times when it appears to be almost mystical, but then, the human mind is vast and endless, and we know very little about it.

#15 I'm no expert but this is based on my firsthand experience:

Image source: thugarth, freepik Taking vitamin D supplements makes me feel *significantly* less depressed. Like, I have the potential to be normal, if I've consistently taken it. And if I haven't, I will definitely be depressed, even if everything else is going great. Now, vitamins aren't exactly pseudo-science. They are, in fact, *actual science*. But I had a hard time taking certain people seriously about them. But damned if it doesn't make a demonstrative difference in my life.

#16 Crazy to think cooling your wrist, behind the knee or inside elbow can cool the whole body due to blood proximity to the surface.

Image source: Stachemaster86, freepik

#17 That talk about you changing personalities when switching languages apparently has truth to it.

Image source: GlorifiedDissident, Lara Jameson

#18 It’s not so much a pseudoscience as it is just good old fashioned, under funding for research but Gut microbiome health is way more than just the health of one’s gut.

Image source: theWildBore, freepic.diller

#19 Having blue eyes can make you prone to sneezing when exposed to bright light.

Image source: T*tShark, Tamba Budiarsana

#20 That the water content of bamboo is affected by what phase the moon is in.

Image source: Hardy-fig-dreaming19, erika m