Q. Try to pick out the false statements among the following: 1. Jesus was born December 25. 2. There were three Wise Men. 3. Napoleon was short. 4. The Great Wall of China is visible from space. 5. Bats are blind. 6. Bananas grow on trees. 7. Washington's false teeth were made of wood. 8. Humans get warts from toads. 9. Sharks don't get cancer. 10. Bulls hate red. 11. You shouldn't touch baby birds. 12. Humans co-existed with dinosaurs. 13. Most body heat is lost through the head. 14. Humans have five senses. 15. Nails grow after death.

A. All of them are commonly held “mythconceptions,” says David McCandless in his book “Knowledge Is Beautiful.” 1. Christmas Day was officially designated Jesus's birth day in 350 C.E., perhaps based on the winter solstice or “just made up.” 2. Nowhere in the “New Testament” does it say there were Three Wise Men. 3. At about 5'7”, Napoleon was actually average or above average for a Frenchman of the time. 4. The Great Wall is not visible by the unaided eye from space. 5. All bat species can see but they generally rely more on echolocation than vision. 6. Bananas actually grow on massive herbs that resemble trees. 7. Washington's teeth were not made of wood but of “a much more hygienic mix of gold, ivory and lead, plus horse and donkey teeth.” 8. Warts are a uniquely human phenomenon; toads don't have them and can't give them, “even if you kiss them.” 9. Sharks do get cancer, particularly skin cancer. 10. Bulls are color-blind and are probably reacting to motions of the bull fighter's cloth as a perceived threat. 11. Birds have a limited sense of smell so won't abandon babies who smell of humans. 12. “Despite 59 percent of U.S. adults thinking that humans and dinosaurs coexisted, we actually missed each other by some 63 million years.” 13. Only in infants is most body heat lost through the head, or if the head is the only uncovered part. 14. Humans actually have close to 20 senses, including balance, pain, movement, hunger, thirst. 15. At death, the skin dries and shrinks away, giving the appearance of growth.

 
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