關于人體的五大謬誤

你認為人只有五種感官嗎？你認為舌尖對甜味敏感而舌根對苦味敏感嗎？你認為慣用左手的人更具創造力嗎？你認為你的胖瘦是由你的新陳代謝決定的嗎？如果你的任何一個回答是肯定的，那么千萬別錯過下文哦！

1. You Only Have Five Senses

Sight， smell， touch， taste， hearing. They are your five senses. Since kindergarten， you've probably been told that anyone who thinks he has a sixth sense is either a psychic1) or M. Night Shyamalan2).

The Truth:

Scientists still aren't quite sure of exactly how many senses you have， or what even constitutes3) a sense. Depending on how we count them， there are usually 14 to 20 of them. The five you learned about in school are just the five most evident senses. The rest are far more interesting.

For example， close your eyes， then touch your nose with your index finger4). How did you know which one was your index finger without looking at it? How did you know where your nose was? Did you smell your finger to your nose? No， that's proprioception5)， your body's awareness6) of where it is in relation to itself.

2. The Tongue Map

One of the first things many of us learned in science class is that the tongue is organized like a factory floor plan7)， with each region assigned8) responsibility for its own highly specialized9) tasks.

The Truth:

Researchers have known for years that all areas in the tongue are about equally good at detecting10) different flavors. It's not an evenly11) distributed12) democracy of taste buds13)， but every tongue has different patterns of strength and weakness. Each of our \"tongue maps\" will detect different tastes， sometimes from the same meal. Also， far from being relegated14) to specific locations on the tongue， your taste buds go all the way down your throat into your digestive system.

3. Your Personality Is Determined by Your Left- or Right-brainedness

If you have functioning ears， you've definitely been told at some point in your life that it's very likely that lefties are artistically talented or emotional， and that righties are better at logical or intellectual thought. And it's all because the right side of your brain (which controls the left side of your body) is totally in charge of your creativity， while the left side controls your logic.

The Truth:

It turns out that the whole thing about creative genius stemming from15) the right side of your brain is a big myth. The brain does indeed have some specialized structures that handle certain functions， but the idea that they cluster16) to opposite sides of the brain is ridiculous. Most brain functions work this way. Emotions (supposedly controlled by the right brain) and arithmetic17) (supposedly controlled by the cold， calculating left brain) both get the bilateral18) treatment. Scientists will tell you that in order to be truly creative or logical， you need resources from both sides of your brain.

4. You Lose Most of Your Body Heat

Through Your Head

One of mom's most important pearls of wisdom19) probably still echoes20) through your head: \"Don't go out without a hat， Junior21). You lose most of your body heat through your head.\" Popular opinion tends to side with22) her on the issue. After all， heat rises.

The Truth:

The origin of this myth can be traced back to the 1950s. In one of the least-thought-out23) studies of all time， the U.S. Army scientists concluded that you lose 40 to 45 percent of your body heat through your head. In reality， covering one part of the body has as much effect as covering any other. The head itself loses no more heat than any other part of your body. Having said that， you should still cover your head during bitterly cold weather. The same goes for your forearms and your feet.

5. Your Metabolism24) Makes You Fat or Skinny25)

We learn from an early age that even if you watch what you eat and exercise regularly， you can still end up overweight due to something called your metabolism. Your metabolism describes how much energy your body uses just by breathing， having a heart that beats and other basic stuff like that.

The Truth:

Everything you ever learned about metabolism is secretly confusing you into being fatter， making nutrition26) and obesity27) seem much more complicated than they actually are. If you want to know why you're fat or skinny， take the number of calories you put into your body and subtract28) the number of calories your body is using. The further you are from zero， the fatter you will become. Some scientists say that there's no significant difference between the metabolisms of obese29) and thin people.

1. 人只有五種感官

視覺、嗅覺、觸覺、味覺、聽覺，這些是人的五種感官。自打上幼兒園起，很可能就有人告訴你，如果某個人認為他有第六感，那他不是巫師就是M. 奈特·沙馬蘭。

真相：

科學家們尚不能確定人到底有多少種感官，甚至不能確定感官是如何形成的。根據計算方法的不同，人一般有14～20種感官。你以前在學校里學過的五種感官只是其中最顯而易見的五種，而其他的感官要更為有趣。

比如，閉上你的雙眼，然后用你的食指去摸你的鼻子。你并沒有看著你的食指，卻如何就知道哪個手指是你的食指呢？你又如何就知道你的鼻子就長在那里呢？是不是你的鼻子聞到了手指的氣味，引導著手指碰到鼻子的呢？當然不是，這就叫做本體感受，即你的身體自身能感知每個部位的相互位置關系。

2. 味覺分布像地圖

我們中的大多數人在科學課上最先學到的知識之一便是：舌頭的結構就像一個工廠的平面示意圖那樣條理有序，每一個區域都負責完成指定的高度專業化任務。

真相：

研究人員多年前就已經發現，舌頭的每個區域對不同味道的感知能力都相差無幾。味蕾并非均勻地分布在舌頭上，每條舌頭都有自己的味覺感知模式，各區域對不同的味道的敏感度有高有低。每個人的舌頭都能分辨出不同的味道，有時即便從同樣的飯菜中也會嘗出不同的味道。另外，你的味蕾遠不只是分布在舌頭的一個個特定區域，從你的喉嚨一直到你的消化系統都有味蕾。

3. 性格取決于左腦強還是右腦強

如果你聽力正常，那你一定曾在生活中的某個時刻聽到過這樣的話：慣用左手的人很可能具有藝術天賦，易動感情，而慣用右手的人則可能更擅長邏輯或智力思維。這都是因為人的右腦(這一部分支配身體的左側)完全控制著人的創造力，而左腦則控制著邏輯思維能力。

真相：

事實證明，人的創造力源于右腦這種看法完全是個謬誤。人腦確實包含一些專門負責特定功能的結構， 不過認為這些結構集中分布在大腦的左右兩邊卻是很荒謬的。大腦的大部分功能是這樣實現的：各種情感(人們通常認為由右腦控制)和算術(人們通常認為由冷靜、審慎的左腦控制)都需要左腦和右腦的合作才能實現。科學家們會告訴你，要想真正變得有創造力或有邏輯頭腦，左、右腦的資源缺一不可。

4. 人體的大部分熱量會從頭部流失

媽媽有很多非常有價值的智慧結晶，其中之一或許現在仍在你的腦海中回響：“孩子，出門別忘了戴帽子，你身上的大部分熱量會從頭上跑掉。”在這個問題上，大多數人都會認同她的觀點。畢竟，熱往高處跑嘛！

真相：

這個謬誤的起源可追溯到20世紀50年代。美國陸軍的科學家們在一次研究中得出結論，人體40%～45%的熱量會從頭部散失掉，這次研究可謂是史上最不求甚解的研究之一。事實上，隨便你蓋住身體的哪一部分，效果都是一樣的。從頭部流失掉的熱量并不比從身體其他任何部位流失掉的熱量多多少。話說到這兒，如果你在嚴寒的天氣出門，還是應該戴上帽子，同樣，胳膊和腳也不要露在外邊。

5. 新陳代謝決定胖瘦

從小我們就知道，即使你注意飲食，經常鍛煉，你還是可能體重超標，而罪魁禍首則是一個叫新陳代謝的家伙。新陳代謝是指你在呼吸、心跳和進行其他生命基本活動的時候，你的身體會消耗多少能量。

真相：

你所知道的一切關于新陳代謝的知識，正讓你在不知不覺中變得更胖，并且使得營養和肥胖看起來比事實上更為復雜。如果你想知道自己胖或瘦的原因，計算一下你身體攝入了多少卡路里的熱量，再減去你身體所消耗掉的卡路里數，所得到的差越大，你就會變得越胖。有些科學家認為胖人和瘦人的新陳代謝并無顯著差別。

1.psychic [?sa?k?k] n. 通靈的人，巫師

2.M. Night Shyamalan: M. 奈特·沙馬蘭，美國著名電影編劇、導演和制片人。他擔任編劇和導演的靈異驚悚影片《第六感》(The Sixth Sense)曾榮獲奧斯卡金像獎六項提名。

3.constitute [?k?nst?tju?t] vt. 組成，構成，形成

4. index finger: 食指

5.proprioception [?pr??pri???sep??n] n. 【生理】本體感受

6. awareness [??we?n?s] n. 意識

7.floor plan: 樓層平面圖，樓面布置圖

8.assign [??sa?n] vt. 分配；給予

9.specialized [?spe??la?zd] adj. 專門的

10.detect [d??tekt] vt. 察覺，發覺

11.evenly [?i?vnli] adv. 均勻地

12.distribute [d??str?bju?t] vt. 使分布，散布

13.taste bud: 味蕾

14.relegate [?rel?ɡe?t] vt. 交付，托付

15.stem from: 來自或起源于(某事物)

16.cluster [?kl?st?(r)] vi. 叢生；群集

17.arithmetic [??r?θm?t?k] n. 算術

18. bilateral [?ba??l?t?r?l] adj. 兩邊的

19.pearls of wisdom: 智慧結晶

20.echo [?ek??] vi. 發出回聲，產生回響

21.Junior [?d?u?ni?(r)] n. <主美口>兒子

22.side with: (在爭論、辯論等中)支持(某人)，站在(某人)一邊

23.least-thought-out: 考慮不周的

24.metabolism [m??t?b?l?z?m] n. 代謝(作用)，新陳代謝(作用)

25.skinny [?sk?ni] adj. 皮包骨的，極瘦的

26.nutrition [nju?tr??n] n. 營養

27.obesity [???bi?s?ti] n. (過度)肥胖

28.subtract [s?b?tr?kt] vt. 減，減去

29.obese [???bi?s] adj. (過分)肥胖的