When I was about 13 I remember reading The Dark is Rising until the sun went down, not paying much mind to how fast the daylight slipping away. It was one of the first books in my life I couldn’t put down, and I wanted so much to finish it before having to come down for dinner. My mother, she loved that I was reading, but when she caught me in my room reading in near darkness I remember her telling me, “You’ll ruin your eyes reading in the dark like that. Now come and eat.”

It was a terrible thought, my eyesight slowly fading the more hours I spent reading in growing twilight. I didn’t want to go blind but after I found my love for books it was hard to remember there was a world around me, let alone notice poor room lighting. Soon after I made sure to always do my reading in a well-lit room, sometimes preparing for the fact by turning on a light even while there was still daylight to be had.

But now that I am older and wiser, I decided to look in to this supposed bad habit. Was my mother right about the potential of me ruining my eyes by reading in low light? No, it turns out she wasn’t.

You will not damage your eyes just by reading in the dark. However, you may experience the discomfort of eye strain.

When you concentrate on reading in low light your eyes are forced to work overtime. The contrast between the dark print in your book against the lightness of the paper isn’t as stark as it would be if you were reading in a well-lit room. Your eyes have a harder time focusing, which is why most people have to bring a book closer in order to read it in dim light. This can cause muscle fatigue in your eyes, headaches and nausea. However these symptoms are temporary and will not damage your vision in the long run.

I win this one, mom!

–Magdalena

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No. I used to think this was true, but I don’t really know why I thought it was true. Perhaps too many horror movies at a young age. Who knows?

The hype in popular fiction and the media about fingernails, hair and even toenails (yuck!) growing post-death all centers around an illusion.

Nothing grows after death. The body dries out and shrivels up. When dehydration occurs, the skin retracts giving the appearance that hair and nails are longer.

So after you die at least you’ll no longer have to worry about getting a manicure.

Check out more on this topic at Snopes

—Nolan

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That’s a big no to all of these. Actually, this whole hair controversy was disproved in a 1928 clinical trial which compared growth in shaved areas to growth in non-shaved areas. This study as well as more recent studies have confirmed that the hair in the shaved areas did not grow back faster, darker or coarser. Yet many still swear this myth is true.

“Shaving … has no effect on the part of the hair shaft below the skin surface, which is where growth and pigmentation occur.”
—Dr. Jerri Hoskyn, an assistant professor of dermatology

When you shave your hair, all you are doing is removing the hair on the surface of the skin. You’re not in any way altering the hair shaft and how it functions.

A small amount of hair growth may look like a lot on a clean-shaven face as opposed to a bearded face. The hair isn’t coming in any faster, it just seems that way. As new hair comes in, it may appear thicker and darker, but this is only an optical illusion. The stubbly edge of the hair makes it seem thicker, but the edge will become worn as it grows out. Your new hair looks darker because it hasn’t been exposed to the sun or chemicals. Over time, the sun will naturally bleach the hair and it will lighten up.

Some medical conditions and medications may cause changes in hair growth or color.

—Nolan

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As a child my parents told me that blood was blue until it hit the air. It was oxygen that made it red. It made sense to me because when I looked at the line of veins in my wrist, they appeared to be blue. And veins are filled with blood. So in turn, blood must be blue inside the body. Right?

Wrong. And I felt like such a dork when I found that out later in life. Blood is never blue, even oxygen deprived blood, though there is a difference in color between arterial (oxygenated blood) and venous (oxygen-stripped blood). The former is bright red and the latter is dark red. At least I got the change in color aspect right.

So why blue veins? The veins in your wrist only appear to be blue because of the way light is diffused by the skin. It’s sort of like an optical illusion. It is not due to the fact that blue blood is flowing through your body. Still don’t make much sense? Still convinced deoxygenated blood is blue in the body? Well, I saw a unique way why it’s not on a Wiki Answers site:

When a person donates blood, it comes from a vein, not an artery. It is also not exposed to air, or it would be contaminated and need to be disposed of. It also happens to be dark red, NOT blue.

Consider me sold… again! It’s a good way to think about it.

So why do people still believe that blood is blue? This misconception can also be attributed to medical textbook illustrations, where veins and the general flow of deoxygenated blood is colored as blue. It makes it easier to see, but still disillusions people.

—Magdalena

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No. So far, there is no medical evidence to prove that eating chocolate causes acne. Overactive sebaceous glands, dead skin cells that get stuck in pores, hormonal changes and heredity are some causes of acne.

Diet, however, can affect acne. If you are consuming too much fat, sugar, or other foods that alter your hormone production, your sebum production can increase causing the follicle to become blocked.

Also, if you have an outbreak after eating a particular type of food, don’t eat it for a while. If you have the same reaction upon eating that same food a few days later, it’s probably an allergic reaction. Consult your allergist or general practitioner for more information.

Although there are people out there who swear that their acne is caused by eating chocolate, this is most likely the result of over consumption. Many research studies have been conducted and they have not been able to prove that chocolate causes acne.

-Nolan

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