John Stossel is probably a very serious person that has written a book about stuff; he's also compiled a
list Popularly Reported Misconceptions (via
Blogdex). It would be kind of longish to look at each and every one of them. I'll keep some for future blojjing; let's just look at the first:
Myth No. 10 -- Getting Cold Can Give You a Cold
He goes on to explain that it's viri who cause common cold; and he's basically right. If you are in the cold in a place where there are no viri, you have a chance next to nil of catching a cold. However, since you don't have Superman's telescopic vision, it's difficult to find out where the hell are the damn bugs. And if you stand out in the cold on the off chance that there are no virus, you might not get a cold
while you do it, but you might get it
afterwards when you enter a virus-filled warm place with a depressed inmune system because you have been trying to fight the cold.
Besides, you can get a skin necrosis due to cold, or skin burns if you touch ice, or cold metals.
It's like saying: staying in the water doesn't kill you. But it might if temperature is much lower than your body.
The rest are even better... but let's leave them for tomorrow.
