5. Evolution
The theory of evolution has been met with fierce objection from many groups over the years.
Although the idea that one organism could descend from another type of organism dates back to the ancient Greek philosophers, it was Charles Darwin’s work on natural selection that became widely accepted during the 19th century. Evolution of a particular species can be tracked by studying several factors including shared biochemical traits like DNA sequences. These traits are similar among species that share a more recent ancestor. This method allows scientists to construct a ‘tree of evolution’ that reaches far into the past.
4. The Earth Orbits The Sun
Although the fact that the Earth orbits the sun may seem like common knowledge, a 2014 survey of 2,200 participants revealed that 1 in 4 Americans answered incorrectly. Similar surveys conducted in Europe found that only 66% of participants actually knew that the Earth revolves around the sun.
Geocentrism is the outdated scientific model that the Earth is the center of the solar system and therefore all other planets and the sun revolve around it. This theory has long been disproven. Even as early as the 3rd century BC, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos believed that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around. The concept did not gain widespread acceptance until 1543 however, when the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published his book On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.
3. AIDS
There is an alarming number of people known as AIDS deniers that believe the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) does not cause Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Deniers argue that AIDS is a result of several other factors that include sexual behaviour, malnutrition and even the drugs used to treat HIV.
The denial of this deadly but treatable disease is especially alarming in places like South Africa where the virus runs rife. Public health researchers have attributed as many as 340,000 AIDS-related deaths as well as 171,000 HIV infections and 35,000 infant infections to AIDS denialism during the recent presidency of Thabo Mbeki.
2. Animal Pain And Suffering
Whether animals can feel pain and suffering or not has been a question debated for centuries. In fact, a 2013 study reported that male undergraduates in the US denied that animals suffered to justify eating meat. In the 17th century, French philosopher René Descartes argued that animals are not conscious therefore can’t feel pain.
With advancements in science humans now understand that many animal species possess the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates necessary for consciousness and therefore are able to feel pain.
1. The Earth Is Round
Despite overwhelming evidence that the Earth is round including aeronautical travel, space flights and the observable curvature of the Earth, there is still a significant number of people who refuse to believe.
Flat Earthers as they are known, claim that all photographs taken from space are hoaxes and that there is actually no satellites orbiting Earth. They believe that all celestial bodies including stars, the moon and the sun orbit above but not around the Earth. They also believe that Antarctica is not a continent but a large ice wall that encircles the Earth, keeping the water from falling off. Flat-Earthers claim that no one is actually allowed to explore Antarctica for fear of revealing the ‘truth’ and that all documented cases have been fabricated.
While the concept of a round Earth first appeared in ancient Greek philosophy, it did not become widely accepted in western culture until the Middle Ages. The Chinese still believed that the Earth was square and flat well into the 17th century when Jesuit missionaries spread the new concept throughout the country.
In 1522, Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano’s circumnavigation of the globe finally provided a practical demonstration of the actual shape of the Earth.
Interestingly, the Earth is not perfectly spherical, it is an oblate spheroid – a non perfect sphere. It is actually flatter at the poles and bulges at the equator.
Well that was 10 science facts people refuse to believe. Can you think of any other facts we may have missed? Let us know!
