The Most Interesting Scientific Hoaxes of All Times

It is natural that scientists are the same ordinary human beings like all of us and sometimes have their own odds. They may make mistakes and pretend that something imagined is a true one in order to achieve success. They are ambitious and proud and very often hoax the word to make stir and cause the reaction of the publicity. Here are some most interesting hoaxes they ever made in the history of humanity.
Mystifications of Science
- In 1726, Johann Beringer found the effectively-maintained fossils of lizards, spiders and birds, and so forth. Some even had the name of the lord in Hebrew inscribed about them. In fact, the fossils have been made from limestone, and now they are known as “bogus stones.” However, in the 18th century, several papers were published on this subject, and there was even a hypothesis that the writing on the stones was engraved directly by God to show that the Jews were the first people inhabiting the earth. Regrettably for Beringer, it has been found that his especially jealous co-workers possessed secret gems specifically where they were meant to be seen. So they wanted to spoil the reputation of the scientist.
- In 1783, the «London Magazine» newspaper published an article about the Indonesian upas-tree that were so poisonous that killed all living things 25 km around, and that was why there were a lot of human and animal skeletons around it. In fact, although upas-tree really exists in the nature and contains a powerful toxin, it is not lethal, even for those who lean against it. Upas-tree is widely used in the regions where it grows, in dyes, lumber and poison for arrows and spearheads.
- In 1912 the so-called Piltdown Man was discovered. It was fossilized remains of a previously unknown humanoid. This almost caused a revolution in the theory of evolution, and many scientists sent the wrong path in their studies. More than 250 scientific articles were written on this subject. The cheating was disguised only 50 years later – it turned out that the skull belonged to an ordinary person of the male sex, and the jaw to an orangutan.
- In 1999, the «National Geographic» magazine published an article about the Archaeoraptor who reported to be an intermediary species between the birds and carnivorous dinosaurs – theropods. A snapshot of the fossils was presented as the evidence. It was discovered later that the fossil was in fact a composition of fossil bones of different animal species put together so that they appeared as the one.
- In 2002, the radio station BBC reported that the German researchers claim that in the next two centuries, blond people will not be born, because the light color of hair is caused by a recessive gene. A year later, the newspaper «New York Times» published a refutation – the report was a fiction. However, the study was widely exploited ad cited as a reliable fact for another decade.
- In 2007, a similar myth was born. According to it, the research laboratories of «Procter and Gamble» company claimed, the disappearance of the red haired people – so the company wanted to increase sales of the red hair dye products. This study also was a complete misleading – a mutated gene, which is responsible for the red hair may be found in a child even if both parents were, for example, dark-haired. If you want to discover even more interesting facts from the world of science, read some at https://essayvictory.biz/.