A lot of heavy science stories get out this year . Unfortunately , so did a bunch of myths and hoaxes that really misrepresented science . In no particular ordination , here are 10 of the openhanded science stories to arrive at the internet this year , that were completely false .
Johns Hopkins Did Not Make a " Cancer Update "
A Ernst Boris Chain email that was started in 2007 go viral this spring . It exact that Johns Hopkins , an internationally renowned medical readiness , unblock an " update " about the " truth " of malignant neoplastic disease . The phoney update contained claims that a warm resistant system will prevent cancer , nutritional deficits cause cancer and supplements will help , and that chemotherapy does more harm than good . In an effort to preserve their proficient name , Johns Hopkins addressed the claims on their site years ago , describing the genuine science behind each falsehood .
A Man Did Not Swim With A Shark In Sydney Harbor
A picture went viral in June that depict a man drop diving into Sydney Harbor , only to be touch by a rather turgid great white shark . Though the video was titled " GoPro : Man Fights Off Great White In Sydney Harbor , " there was n’t any actual fundamental interaction between the natator and the shark . That was most potential due to the fact that there was n’t actually a shark near the swimmer . expert flaw with the video recording made it very apparent that picture of the shark had actually been spliced in with the video of the bather .
Mars Will Never Look As Large As the Sun Myung Moon
Another repeated headache is the claim that Mars will seem as large as the full moon in the nighttime sky . The situation would never take place . Ever . The original claim began back in 2003 , and has resurface every year since then . in the first place , Mars was close enough to be viewed with a 75x scope , making it look as big as the Sun Myung Moon commonly calculate with the naked eye , but it take a ridiculous twist . This year was especially ridiculous , as Mars was on the diametric side of the Sun on the particular date it was alleged to be at its close point ever , and the moonlight was n’t even faithful to being full . Mars would demand to be 118 time close than it has ever been in order for this to be true .
Even With a Patent , Silver Oxide Can not heal AIDS
In the mid-1990s , the U.S. Patent Office approve a patent for a compound containing atomic number 47 oxide , with aver benefits that included free the human torso of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome , better know as AIDS . Over the summer , 9GAG irresponsibly produce a computer graphic that state " Want to hump a secret ? 5676977 Just Google it . " The number is the patent of invention number , incriminate there was a hidden AIDS cure . There is dead no grounds that silver oxide can treat AIDS , and get a patent for a product is not at all the same as having FDA approval ( that requires years of study and mound of grounds ) .
NASA Never Predicted a Global Blackout
Another myth that keeps resurfacing twelvemonth after year is the claim that NASA predicted a worldwide blackout in December 2012 , though the myth has been revamp to implement to 2013 and 2014 when the prognosticate consequence never pass . It was say that there would be a global blackout for 3 Day , during which metre the Earth would actually travel between different dimension . This affright was caused when NASA administrator Charles Bolden participate in a video about general preparedness , in case of tornadoes , floods , and normal thing like that . Definitely not for traveling between property .
The CDC Never " Admitted " The Flu Vaccine Did n’t Work
One of the form featured in this year ’s seasonal flu vaccine has drifted , meaning the virus has evolve slimly from the time the manufacturers of the vaccinum began to make it and the head start of the influenza season . There was a claim from the ever - horrifying Natural News claiming that the CDC ’s announcement was tantamount to an admission that the seasonal vaccine does n’t work . In fact , the vaccine covers multiple melodic line . Even in former years that experienced a drift with a finical strain , the vaccine was still able to provide some degree of protection and decrease the severity of disease .
There Is No Atacama Alien
In 2003 , researchers find fossilized human remains in the Atacama Desert . The cadaver were much smaller than would be expected for a nipper , lead to speculation that this was really the stiff of an stranger . A documentary by the name of Sirius also feed into the hype that the skeleton in the closet was not of terrestrial blood . Ata , as the skeleton in the cupboard is known , could have suffered from a number of diseases that could have cause the skeleton ’s small stature , let in dwarfism , progeria , or a side effect of mumification necrosis .
A Man Did n’t Spot A Two - Headed Alligator in Florida
A picture went viral over the summer by a human named Justin Arnold who claimed to recognise a two - head gator while walking his dog in Florida . Unfortunately , there were some clues in the word-painting that signal it was n’t actually a real animal . to boot , Arnold ’s website is fill with faux curio , include a fish said to have grown fur ( because it ostensibly got cold and morphed into a mammalian ) . It is presently unidentified whether the two - head alligator was the mathematical product of misleading Photoshopping or originative taxidermy .
Sunscreen Will Not Give You Cancer
Over the summertime , pseudoscience website RealFarmacy.com published an article account ways sunscreen can actually cause cancer . Some of the claims state that block the sunlight ’s irradiation causes disturbing Vitamin D want , sunscreen users are more potential to get melanoma , and that sunscreen manipulation endocrine gland disrupt chemical substance . Of of course , the total article was found on fear mongering and not upstanding scientific grounds , so please think back to use sunscreen to protect yourself from pelt cancer .
Megalodon Is Not Still live
Shark partisan around the world were collectively dismay to see that Discovery Channel – yet again – produced a mockumentary during Shark Week . This summer ’s initiation built upon the flick from 2013 that supply " grounds " that the monumental prehistoric brute was still swimming about in the waters . Though there were disclaimers stating that the " expert " were really just actors , they kick the bucket largely unnoticed and many people were mislead , require Discovery to only put out reputable textile .
