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我们的生活中总是存在着一些非常流行的科学理论或说法。实际上，在这些理论当中，有的确实如此，有的却是人们的错误理解。日前，美国“生活科学网”就对这些问题进行了归纳总结。
Chickens can live without a head
鸡没有脑袋也能存活
True, and not just for a few minutes. A chicken can stagger
around without its noggin because the brain stem, often left
partially intact after a beheading, controls most of its reflexes.
One robust fellow lived a full eighteen months. Likely he was a
real birdbrain, however.
正确！而且鸡在被“斩首”之后绝不只是能“苟延残喘”几分钟而已。事实证明，曾有一只精力充沛的家伙在被斩首后，居然摇摇摆摆、跌跌撞撞地活了整整18个月！
Humans use only 10 percent of their brains
人类的大脑只开发了十分之一
This media darling has been around for at least a century.
Fortunately, it's just not true. MRI imaging clearly
demonstrates—with fancy colors no less—that humans put most of
their cerebral cortex to good use, even while dozing.
这一被媒体广泛关注的理论已至少存在了1个世纪。但幸运的是，这个理论并不正确。核磁共振图象明确地显示出，即使是在打瞌睡的时候，人们都很好地利用了其大部分的大脑皮层，人脑并没有被荒废。
Water drains backwards in the Southern Hemisphere due to the
Earth's rotation
地球自转致使南半球水流旋涡呈逆时针旋转
Not only is the Earth's rotation too weak to affect the direction
of water flowing in a drain, tests you can easily perform in a few
washrooms will show that water whirlpools both ways depending on
the sink's structure, not the hemisphere.
其实，地球自转的作用很微弱，因此难以影响水流动的方向。你可以在一些盥洗室中轻易地验证这一点，无论是逆时针还是顺时针，水流旋涡的方向取决于水槽的结构，而非南北半球。
There is no gravity in space
太空无重力
Blame the term "zero-gravity" for this common misconception.
Gravity is everywhere, even in space. Astronauts look weightless
because they are in continuous freefall towards the Earth, staying
aloft because of their horizontal motion. The effect of gravity
diminishes with distance, but it never truly goes away. Oh, and
while we're at it, it's also untrue that space is a vacuum. There
are all kinds of atoms out there, albeit sometimes far apart (and
this thin gas adds to the collective gravity budget, too!)
这是个普遍的误解，事实上重力无处不在，即使在太空也是如此。宇航员之所以看起来无重力是由于他们处于向地球的持续下落中，而保持高高在上则是由于他们的水平运动所致。重力的影响会随远离而减小，但它绝不会真正地消失殆尽。
A penny dropped from the top of a tall building could kill a
pedestrian
高处落下的一分硬币可致人死亡
A penny isn't the most aerodynamic of weapons. A combination of
its shape and wind friction means that, tossed even from the
1,250-foot Empire State Building, it would travel fast enough
merely to sting an unlucky pedestrian.
从高处落下的一分硬币并非最能体现空气动力学的武器。将硬币的形状和下落时的空气摩擦力结合起来考虑，即使从1250英尺(约合375米)高的纽约帝国大厦上扔下一枚硬币，它所带来的快速冲击力仅仅是让一个不幸的过路者感到一阵刺痛而已。
Chicken soup can cure the common cold
喝鸡汤能治感冒
Cure is a strong word, but science suggests Moms around the world
are still right in forcing spoonfuls of chicken soup down their
kids' throats. Studies have found that the broth actually contains
anti-inflammatory properties that help reduce congestion.
相关研究已证实，鸡汤中确实含有某些抗炎成分，能有助于减少因感冒引起的喉咙充血。因此，世界范围内的妈妈们在孩子感冒不舒服时，还是应该强迫他们喝下对身体有益的鸡汤。
Hair and fingernails continue growing after death
人死后指甲和头发会继续生长
Though hair and fingernails appear to keep growing after death,
this is merely a morbid optical illusion at work. In death the
human body dehydrates severely, retracting enough skin to expose
more nail and hair.
尽管看起来确实如此，人死后他们的手指甲和头发反而更长了，但这种恐怖的现象仅仅是种错觉而已。要知道，人死后尸体会严重脱水，皮肤发生收缩后，就会露出更多的指甲和头发。
Yawning is "contagious"
打哈欠会传染
Empirically, this is tough to deny; perhaps you'll yawn while
reading this. The real question is whether there's actually
something physiological at work here, and the answer is likely yes:
even chimpanzees mimic each other's yawns.
几乎我们每个人都遇到过“打哈欠被传染”的情况，因此从经验上来讲，我们很难否认这种说法。真正的问题在于，这其中究竟有没有什么生理学上的依据在起作用，而答案很可能是肯定的。科学家发现，就连黑猩猩之间，打哈欠也是会相互传染的。 |
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发表于 2006-1-18 23:29:35
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