Science Myths: Antibiotics Kill Viruses
Source: PSNC
Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses. As much as we’d like for them to help with our cold or flu symptoms, taking antibiotics for these illnesses can cause you even more problems by making other common bacteria hanging out within you drug-resistant.
This could lead to “superbugs”, which make you sicker than the thing you were trying to cure in the first place. Still, physicians write millions of antibiotic prescriptions for viruses each year; sometimes because it’s better to take that chance than waiting on lab results for something that could be very serious, but mostly because patients (or the parents of patients) badger them into it because of this potentially dangerous myth.
Myth: After You Die, Your Fingernails Continue To Grow
Source: AIB
How would this even be possible? For tissues to grow, it means they need to be alive, which means they need oxygen (which your working heart normally pumps through your blood when you’re alive) and nutrition from your food (which you don’t eat or process after death). The only way this could be misunderstood is by the appearance of the skin of the nail bed pulling away from the nail post-mortem, making them appear longer.
Myth: The Infamous Five Second Rule
Source: Pic Photos
Dropping your food on the floor (where there are germs) will cause it to pick up germs immediately. End of story.
