The history of medicine is a noble one, with an ultimate goal of extending human life and easing human suffering. Unfortunately, medicine also has its share of charlatans, con-men, and incompetents whose greatest evil is to cast doubt on the benefits of any medicine in the minds of laymen. Merriam-Webster defines a “quack” as “a pretender to medical skill”. Presented here are some self-proclaimed, as well as licensed, “pretenders” who may have had the best of intentions, but certainly achieved the worst of results.

The purported inventor of the “Anodyne Necklace”, Chamberlen claimed that the necklace would help “children’s teethe as well as woman’s labour”. It is no shock that children during the eighteenth century often died as infants, and as many times during infancy the baby is teething, it may have seemed natural that the teething itself was the source of illness and death. The Anodyne Necklace was invented to simply place around a baby’s neck to prevent infant death during teething. Chamberlen deserves the last place on this list for preying and capitalizing on the grief and terror of parents who were more often than not during this period resigned to the fact that their children would be more likely to die in infancy than to make it to adulthood. Unbelievably, such necklaces are still being sold today, despite an utter lack of evidence of their efficacy. See for yourself.

Invented the Dynamizer, which he claimed could diagnose any ailment simply by feeding into it a slip of paper upon which had been blotted a drop of the patient’s blood. If a drop of blood was unavailable or the patient didn’t want to give it, a handwriting sample would suffice! One made the Dynamizer work by connecting it with an electrode to the forehead of an assistant, who was stripped bare to the waist. Then the assistant was turned to face West under dim light and his abdomen struck repeatedly with a mallet. The vibrations coming off the assistant’s abdomen would indicate to the doctor the nature of the disease. The medical community, ever the distrustful skeptics, sent an Abrams practitioner a drop of rooster blood to be analyzed with the Dynamizer. The “patient” was diagnosed with malaria, syphilis, diabetes, and cancer.

Famous American chiropractor and iridologist who asserts that all of the body’s underlying dysfunctions and toxins can be identified through the iris (colored part) of the eye, despite the fact that the iris does not undergo major changes during a person’s life. Nevertheless, Jensen insisted that darker areas of the iris, or areas that changed from lighter to darker, would be read as indications that there were problems or diseases in the corresponding part of the body. Different areas of the iris would represent different limbs and organs, and the left and right eye would be read differently. For instance, if the bottom of your right eye’s iris had a dark fleck, your right kidney would be in grave danger. You can view one of Jensen’s iridology charts here.

Invented the Spectro-Chrome, which he claimed could cure ailments by changing the color of the light to which the patient was exposed. His theory was that different colors corresponded to different elements (blue = oxygen, red = hydrogen, etc.), and the lack of those elements in the body was what caused disease. Hence, if the body was exposed to that color for a prolonged period, the deficiency would be remedied, and the disease cured. Any disease except broken bones could be cured in this manner; furthermore, the patient did not necessarily have to be exposed directly to the colored lights: he or she could also drink liquids out of an appropriately colored bottle in order to achieve the same effects.

Father of modern chiropractic, Palmer’s scientific method, leading to his theory that misalignment of the spine is the most common cause of all illness in the human body, boiled down to two incidents: 1) he whacked a deaf janitor with a book during some witty banter, and a few days later the man claimed he could hear better, and 2) he manipulated an undisclosed patient’s spine and “cured” her vague “heart trouble”. On these two incidents alone, Palmer postulated that there was a fluid called “Innate Intelligence” flowing through the body that could heal any ailment and that could be made to flow more easily by unblocking pathways through the manipulation of the spine. As chiropractic is a very common practice today, this will most likely be the most controversial of the entries on this list.

President of “Radium Company” of New York and a self-proclaimed doctor who never received his medical degree, he prescribed to his patients “Radithor”, essentially a solution of radium in regular water, which he asserted would help invigorate tired patients. His most notable patient was Eben Byers, a wealthy industrialist, who drank 1400 bottles of Radithor before having his jaw fall off and subsequently dying from radiation poisoning. Upon Byers’ death, it was discovered that the radium had eaten massive holes in his brain and skull. Bailey also marketed a radioactive belt-clip (for portable “energy”) and a radioactive paperweight (presumably to perk up lethargic businessmen).

Immortalized in T. Coraghessan Boyle’s book “The Road to Wellville”, which was later made into a move starring Anthony Hopkins as Kellogg, and the brother of cereal magnate Will Kellogg, J.H. Kellogg, one of the few licensed medical doctors on this list, is well-known as an eccentric and monomaniacal leader of the “health movement”. His sanitarium in Battle Creek drew large numbers of “patients” who apparently volunteered for such masochistic treatments as: complete abstinence from any sexual activity, since it was the source of most illness; yogurt enemas to cleanse the body; marching while eating meals to help digestion; carbolic acid applications to the clitoris to prevent female masturbation; and immersion in freezing water laced with radium. Apparently, he, not Will, was the original Frosted Flake.

The “goat gland” doctor, Brinkley performed hundreds of surgeries on men who feared that their most virile days were behind them by opening up their scrotal sacs and nestling goat’s testicles alongside the men’s. There was no arterial conjoining, no grafting, no fusion – the goat gland and human testicle merely occupied the same sac, but Brinkley claimed that the extra flow of testosterone would revitalize a male patient’s sex life. Legend has it that his hypothesis turned into implementation while working for a meatpacking company, Brinkley was astounded by the sexual voracity of the goats, thus prompting him to half-jokingly suggest to his undersexed patient that he should try goat glands; to this suggestion his desperate patient responded, “So doc, put ‘em in. Transplant ‘em!” Brinkley went on to perform over 16,000 goat gland transplants. He also arguably established the first radio advice talk show in order to advertise himself and his services to as many potential patients as possible. The book “Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster”, by Pope Brock, is an excellent starting point to learn more about this irrepressible lunatic.

A prominent neurologist and psychiatrist, he popularized the lobotomy by making it easy and convenient: “perfecting” the transorbital lobotomy, where a sharp implement (the first was an icepick from his own kitchen) was inserted through the inside corner of the eye, tapped with a small hammer until it broke through the skull bone and entered the frontal lobe of the patient’s brain, then wiggled around like a stir-stick to cut neural connections. These “surgeries” were performed outside of the operating room, without anesthetic, and after the patient was incapacitated by electroshock therapy. Freeman eventually developed his own instrument for performing the lobotomies called the “leucotome”. He decided to refine his instrument further when one broke off inside a patient’s orbital socket. Even after his medical license was revoked for killing a patient with his technique, he would travel the country in his “Lobotomobile” to service the needy and the isolated. He performed 3,439 lobotomies during his career, though the psychological and physical damage caused by his practice of psychiatry is unquantifiable. For an amazing and heartbreaking first-person account of an 11-year-old victim’s lobotomy by Freeman, “My Lobotomy” by Howard Dully is a must-read.

No list about quacks would be complete without mentioning this undisputed king of cruel and inhuman “research experiments”. The “Angel of Death” at Auschwitz, Mengele’s crimes against humanity during World War II at the concentration camp are well-documented and well-known. Some of the more notable and horrendous “experiments” he carried out were: injecting dyes into children’s eyes to see if eye color could be changed; attempting to measure how much force would be needed to break a human being’s skull (while living, of course); putting Jewish prisoners in a gigantic oven and testing how long it would take for human flesh to sustain first-, second-, and third-degree burns; sewing twins together to see if he could create conjoined twins; and rubbed ground glass into injuries to see what the effect would be. The damage Mengele did to an entire race of people, to the human spirit, and to our perception of the depravity the human mind can invent is still unsurpassed.

There has been much news of late about space – from NASA bombing the moon to discoveries on Mars. I am fascinating by outer space and the images we are receiving daily from our outer space vessels seems to be getting better and better. For that reason it seemed appropriate to create a second list of stunning images of space. Here is the original list for those interested. As usual, click the image for a larger view.

This stunning image of Saturn was captured by the incredible Cassini spacecraft in 2006 as it passed behind the ringed gas giant in the 9th year of its mission. Even more incredible it that the pale-blue dot of the Earth can be seen in this image just above and to the left of the bright, main rings. [Source]

The Crab Pulsar, a city-sized, magnetized neutron star spinning 30 times a second, lies at the center of this remarkable image from the orbiting Chandra Observatory. The deep x-ray image gives the first clear view of the convoluted boundaries of the Crab’s pulsar wind nebula. Like a cosmic dynamo the pulsar powers the x-ray emission. With more mass than the Sun and the density of an atomic nucleus, the spinning pulsar itself is the collapsed core of a massive star. The stellar core collapse resulted in a supernova explosion that was witnessed in the year 1054. [Source]

A partial solar eclipse is seen through clouds in Hyderabad, Pakistan on Wednesday, July 22, 2009. [Source]

Eta Carinae is a stellar system in the constellation Carina, about 7,500 to 8,000 light-years from the Sun. The system contains at least two stars, one of which is a luminous blue variable star. Its combined luminosity is about four million times that of the Sun and has an estimated system mass in excess of 100 solar masses.

This dramatic NAC image was acquired about 56 minutes prior to MESSENGER’s closest approach during the mission’s October 6, 2008 Mercury flyby. You almost feel like you could reach out and touch it. [Source]

Evidence indicates that IC 4406 is likely a hollow cylinder, with its square appearance the result of our vantage point in viewing the cylinder from the side. Were IC 4406 viewed from the top, it would likely look similar to the Ring Nebula. This representative-color picture is a composite made by combining images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2001 and 2002. [Source]

NASA’s STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft observed this visually stunning prominence eruption on Sept. 29, 2008 in the 304 wavelength of extreme UV light. It rose up and cascaded to the right over several hours, appearing something like a flag unfurling, as it broke apart and headed into space. [Source]

NGC 290 is an open cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud, which is located in the constellation Tucana.The photogenic cluster, pictured above, was captured recently by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Open clusters of stars are younger, contain few stars, and contain a much higher fraction of blue stars than do globular clusters of stars.

After undocking, the space shuttle Discovery crew got a memorable view of the developing International Space Station (ISS). Pictured orbiting high above Earth, numerous solar panels, trusses, and science modules of the ISS were visible. [Source]

Although liquids freeze and evaporate quickly into the thin atmosphere of Mars, persistent winds may make large sand dunes appear to flow and even drip like a liquid. Visible on the above image right are two flat top mesas in southern Mars, where the season is changing from Spring to Summer. [Source]

This is a bonus item because it is an artist’s rendition; but it is the only available image so far. On 6 October 2009, the discovery of a tenuous ring of material in the plane of and just interior to the orbit of Phoebe (one of Saturn’s moons) was announced (it has been called the Phoebe ring). It is tilted 27 degrees from Saturn’s equatorial plane (and the other rings) and it is virtually invisible to the naked eye.

Every year scientific groups and national organizations conduct studies and experiments examining human dreams. The study of dreams is known as oneirology. Progress is being made in this area of work, but as a population we know very little about the content and purpose of our dreams. One thing is for sure, the images, thoughts, and emotions that pass through our bodies during sleep can greatly influence our outlook on life. Keep in mind that the word dream stems from the Middle English word dreme, meaning joy and music. Following our first list about dreams, here are ten more amazing facts about dreams.

Studies have provided evidence suggesting tremendous variation in brain activity during sleep. This has been demonstrated using EEG technology. Scientists have identified five distinct stages of sleep, characterized by differences in brain activity. Stages 1-4 and a final stage labeled rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. When awakened during REM sleep, subjects report dreaming. With the development of new brain imaging technology in the early 1990’s we learned even more about brain activity during REM sleep. Researchers found that certain areas of the brain are extremely active during the REM sleep state, even more active than being awake. Studies have shown that certain visual areas of the human cortex, which decode complex visual scenes, are significantly more active during REM sleep. Intense activity is also observed in the limbic system, which is a set of structures heavily involved in human emotion.

We can’t be 100% sure that animals dream in a similar way as humans, but they do enter into a state of REM sleep. REM sleep occurs in all mammals, although it excludes the egg-laying monotremes of Australia. The sentinel hypothesis of REM sleep, which was put forward by Frederic Snyder in 1966, proposes that many mammals wake-up immediately after entering into REM sleep, leading him to infer that the process was being used as a defense mechanism. Many birds also show signs of REM sleep, but reptiles and other cold-blooded animals do not. The echidna does enter into REM sleep, but only if its environment is around 25°C. Dogs and cats also experience this stage of sleep.

Many people who smoke marijuana report having no dreams, yet after they quit, the same people report extremely vivid and intense dreams. Most vivid dreams take place during REM sleep, so the logical scientific question is “Does marijuana (THC) affect REM sleep?” A study conducted in 1975 compared the sleep patterns of experienced marijuana users with non-smokers. The results showed reduced eye movement activity and less REM sleep in the THC condition. They also reported a REM rebound effect, which is more REM activity upon withdrawal from THC. Scientific evidence exists that correlates marijuana use with a loss of REM sleep and dreams, so the next time you smoke marijuana and don’t remember your dreams you will know why.

Epic dreams are extremely vivid and can be life changing. These dreams are so compelling that they will often generate a greater awareness of your natural surroundings. Epic dreams will give you a fresh and new perspective on an aspect of life. When you wake up from an epic dream you will feel as if you have discovered something profound or amazing. The epic dream will remain with you for years. People who experience these types of dreams often report a continuous storyline that constitutes an entirely different and ongoing life. Many people sleep during their epic dreams, having a dream within itself.

Many studies have been conducted to examine differences in the dreams of men and women. It has been shown that women dream of both genders equally, yet 67% of the time the characters in men’s dreams are predominantly male. Women’s dreams tend to last longer and include more emotional content whereas men’s dreams are reported to include more violence, cars, and roads. On average, 8% of people’s dreams include sexual activity. The primary gender difference in sexual dreams is that men tend to dream about unknown or public places and their dreams often feature strangers, while the opposite is true for the majority of women. Women more often dream of enclosed bodies of water, such as pools, lakes, ponds. Of course this data is based on general percentages and is not true for everyone.

Sleep Paralysis is a condition that affects many people in the world. It is directly related to the REM sleep stage and dreaming. Sleep paralysis corresponds with REM atonia, which is the state of paralysis that occurs during REM sleep. A person experiences sleep paralysis when the brain awakes from the REM sleep cycle, but the paralysis state remains. The person is conscious, but unable to move. They continue to dream and in many cases can visually experience their dreams in their room. A person experiencing sleep paralysis is not fully conscious, but well aware of what is happening. The experience has been described as distorted tunnel vision. The paralysis state may be accompanied by extreme hallucinations and a sense of danger. Many historical claims of alien abduction have been explained by extreme cases of sleep paralysis.

Ernest Hartmann has published many books and papers on the topic of nightmares. His work has indicated that the most common theme of a nightmare is being chased. Adults are commonly chased by a male figure, while children face animals or fantasy creatures. Nightmares are less common in adults and children experience them most often between the ages of three or four and seven or eight. About 5-lO% of people have nightmares once a month or more frequently. Hartmann’s work suggests that nightmares directly correlate with daily activities and are an indicator of fear or anxiety that needs to be confronted. Some common triggers can be drug abuse, traumatic events, or the loss of a loved one. Night terrors are quite different from nightmares. They occur during the first hour or two of sleep and during the non-rapid eye cycle. Loud screaming and thrashing is common. The sleeper is hard to awake and usually remembers no more than an overwhelming feeling or a single scene. Night terrors are much less common than nightmares. Children from the ages of two to six are most prone to night terrors, and they affect about 15% of all children.

Dreams have often been credited with influencing world changing events. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein after having a dream about the monster. “I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion.” Elias Howe was a sewing machine pioneer who greatly influenced the product in the middle of the 19th century. He is recorded as saying that he had a vivid dream about a group of cannibals that were preparing to cook him. They were dancing around a fire waving their spears up and down. Howe noticed that in the head of each spear there was a small hole, which ultimately gave him the idea of passing the thread through the needle close to the point, not at the other end. It was a major innovation in making mechanical sewing possible. The scientist Friedrich August Kekulé discovered the seemingly impossible chemical structure of benzene (C6H6) after having a dream about a group of snakes swallowing their tails. In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA. Watson later reported that the idea came to him after dreaming of a series of spiral staircases. A few days prior to his death Abraham Lincoln discussed a dream with his wife in which he previewed a dead body wrapped in funeral vestments surrounded by hundreds of mourners. He claims to have been told by a soldier that the president had been assassinated.

Snoring is a major problem for millions of people. Many individuals who experience chronic snoring are suffering from a REM sleep disorder. During REM sleep individuals will experience irregular breathing, a rise in blood pressure, vivid dreams, and paralysis. People who snore regularly do dream, but will not remember them as often as normal sleeping individuals. They often will develop a REM sleep disorder. This disorder is a condition in which the individual does not experience any kind of paralysis when they sleep. The absence of this paralysis causes many people to physically act out their dreams. Such physical behaviors often include talking, yelling, punching, kicking, jumping out of bed, arm flailing, and even grabbing. The person will remain sleeping while acting out their dreams and will not remember the activity or dream the following day.

REM sleep begins when signals are broadcasted from the base of the brain, an area called the pons. The pons distributes signals to the thalamus, which directs them towards the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the area of the brain responsible for learning, thinking, and organizing information. The pons also sends signals that shut off the neurons in the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis during REM sleep. REM sleep activates the area of the brain that we use for learning. This may be an extremely important factor in normal brain development during infancy. It may explain why small children spend much more time in REM sleep then adults. In addition, REM sleep is associated with increased protein in the brain. Studies have been conducted that correlate REM sleep and learning mental skills. Separate groups of people were taught the same skill and a larger percentage of individuals who fell into REM sleep during the night were able to recall the skill the next day. This theory is called the Ontogenetic Hypothesis of REM sleep.

[WARNING: Spider Image] We have already written a list about poisons that we love to eat, so we can consider this a sequel of sorts. In this list we look at a variety of substances (poisons and venoms) that are normally things we would avoid as they can kill or badly damage us, but are found in the medicine bottles and pill boxes of doctors and pharmacists around the world. If you have more to add, be sure to do so in the comments.

Warfarin is an anticoagulant. It was initially marketed as a pesticide against rats and mice and is still popular for this purpose, although more potent poisons such as brodifacoum have since been developed. A few years after its introduction, warfarin was found to be effective and relatively safe for preventing thrombosis and embolism (abnormal formation and migration of blood clots) in many disorders. It was approved for use as a medication in the early 1950s and has remained popular ever since; warfarin is the most widely prescribed anticoagulant drug in North America. Despite its effectiveness, treatment with warfarin has several shortcomings. Many commonly used medications interact with warfarin, as do some foods, and its activity has to be monitored by frequent blood testing.

Cone snails are medium-sized to large, sophisticated predatory sea snails. These snails hunt and immobilize prey using a modified radular tooth along with a poison gland containing neurotoxins; this is launched out of its mouth in a harpoon-like action. Live cone snails should be handled with care or not handled at all, as they are capable of “stinging” humans with unpleasant results. The sting of small cones is no worse than a bee sting, but the sting of a few of the larger species of tropical cone snails can be serious or even fatal to human beings. The venom of some cone snails, such as the Magician cone, Conus magus, shows much promise for providing a non-addictive pain reliever 1000 times as powerful as, and possibly a replacement for, morphine. The first painkiller Ziconotide derived from cone snail toxins was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2004 under the name “Prialt”. Other drugs are in clinical and preclinical trials, such as compounds of the toxin that may be used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy.

The roots of Aconitum ferox (Wolfsbane) supply the Nepalese poison called bikh, bish, or nabee. It contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. Aconitum palmatum yields another of the bikh poisons. The root of Aconitum luridum, of the Himalaya, is said to be as virulent as that of A. ferox or A. napellus. In Western medicine preparations of aconite were used until just after the middle of the 20th century, but it is no longer employed as it has been replaced by safer and more effective drugs and treatments. Internal uses were also pursued, to slow the pulse, as a sedative in pericarditis and heart palpitations, and well diluted as a mild diaphoretic, or to reduce feverishness in treatment of colds, pneumonia, quinsy, laryngitis, croup, and asthma due to exposure. Taken internally, aconite acts very notably on the circulation, the respiration, and the nervous system. The pulse is slowed, the number of beats per minute being actually reduced, under considerable doses, to forty, or even thirty, per minute. Interestingly, the wolfsbane flower was used to identify supposed werewolves. If the flower cast a yellow shadow on the suspected shape-shifter’s chin, the werewolf test was positive.

Depending on the species, the digitalis plant may contain several deadly physiological and chemically related cardiac and steroidal glycosides. Thus, the digitalis has earned several more sinister monikers: Dead Man’s Bells, and Witches’ Gloves. The entire plant is toxic (including the roots and seeds), although the leaves of the upper stem are particularly potent, with just a nibble being enough to potentially cause death. Medicines from foxgloves are called “Digitalin”. It is used to increase cardiac contractility (it is a positive inotrope) and as an antiarrhythmic agent to control the heart rate, particularly in the irregular (and often fast) atrial fibrillation. It is therefore often prescribed for patients in atrial fibrillation, especially if they have been diagnosed with heart failure.

The copperhead is an ambush predator: it takes up a promising position and waits for suitable prey to arrive. Like most North American viperids, these snakes prefer to avoid humans and, given the opportunity, will leave the area without biting. However, unlike other viperids they will often “freeze” instead of slithering away, and as a result many bites occur from people unknowingly stepping on or near them. Copperhead venom has an estimated lethal dose of around 100 mg, and tests on mice show its potency is among the lowest of all pit vipers, and slightly weaker than that of its close relative, the cottonmouth. Copperheads often employ a “warning bite” when stepped on or agitated and inject a relatively small amount of venom, if any at all. The venom of the Southern copperhead has been found to hold a protein called “Contortrostatin” that halts the growth of cancer cells and also stops the migration of the tumors to other sites. It will probably be ten or more years before contortrostatin is used in practical treatment but it has shown to be a novel anti-cancer drug in the lab.

Hemlock is one of the most widely known poisons. The most important and toxic alkaloid in hemlock is coniine, which has a chemical structure similar to nicotine. Coniine is a neurotoxin, which disrupts the workings of the central nervous system and is toxic to humans and all classes of livestock. Coniine causes death by blocking the neuromuscular junction in a manner similar to curare; this results in an ascending muscular paralysis with eventual paralysis of the respiratory muscles which results in death due to lack of oxygen to the heart and brain. Death can easily be prevented by artificial ventilation until the effects have worn off 48–72 hours later. Ingestion of Poison Hemlock in any quantity can result in respiratory collapse and death. For an adult the ingestion of more than 100 mg of coniine (approximately 6 to 8 fresh leaves, or a smaller dose of the seeds or root) may result in fatality. Despite its deadly reputation, poison hemlock has been used as a sedative and for its antispasmodic properties. It was also used by Greek and Persian physicians for a variety of problems, such as arthritis.

Atropine is a tropane alkaloid extracted from deadly nightshade, jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), mandrake and other plants of the family Solanaceae. Injections of atropine are used in the treatment of bradycardia (an extremely low heart rate), asystole and pulseless electrical activity (PEA) in cardiac arrest. Atropine’s actions on the parasympathetic nervous system inhibits salivary, sweat, and mucus glands. This can be useful in treating hyperhidrosis, and can prevent the death rattle of dying patients. Because of its extremely important use in medicine, this poison is a core medicine in the World Health Organization’s “Essential Drugs List”, which is a list of minimum medical needs for a basic health care system.

The venom from another menacing arachnid is being used to help treat cancer. Researchers at the Transmolecular Corporation in Cambridge, Mass., have isolated a protein that occurs in the venom of the Israeli yellow scorpion. This protein has been shown to seek out and bind itself to the types of cancerous cells found in gliomas, a type of brain cancer that’s particularly difficult to treat. The researchers created a synthetic version of the protein and attached radioactive iodine solution to it. When introduced into the bloodstream, the protein seeks out glioma cells and binds to them, carrying the radioactive solution along for the ride. The solution then destroys the cells — and with enough treatments, the cancer. [source]

Biophysicists from the University at Buffalo are using a protein from the venom of the Chilean Rose tarantula to combat death from heart attacks. The walls of your cells have tiny channels that open when the cell stretches. Among other body functions, these channels are responsible for the contraction of heart muscles. When these channels open too wide (which can happen from stretching the heart muscles over time), they allow a flood of positive ions into the cell. These extra ions disrupt the electrical signals in the heart, causing the organ to fibrillate (beat wildly and irregularly). The protein from the Chilean tarantula venom binds to these channels, which can block the positive ions from passing through. This could ostensibly prevent fibrillation — and hopefully death — if delivered during a heart attack. [source]

Man has a long history with ergot – a fungus which infects rye (which is then transferred to humans who eat the grain). Ergotism causes hallucinations and attendant irrational behavior, convulsions, and even death. Other symptoms include strong uterine contractions, nausea, seizures, and unconsciousness. Consumption can lead to amputation of limbs which are damaged by the fungus. Since the middle ages, controlled doses of ergot were used to induce abortions and to stop maternal bleeding after childbirth. Ergot alkaloids are used in products such as Cafergot (containing caffeine and ergotamine or ergoline) to treat migraine headaches. It is also used in a variety of treatments for Parkinson’s disease. Ergotism has even been blamed (though it is not likely the true cause) for the extremely bizarre dancing plague which struck Europe in the 1500s.

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This is actually our third list of science facts, but here we have focussed especially on lesser-known trivia. Hopefully you will find at least a handful of items here that are completely new to you. Be sure to add your own fascinating facts to the comments. If you wish to read the previous lists of facts, they are: Top 20 Amazing Science Facts, and Another 15 Amazing Science Facts.

1. An iceberg contains significantly more total heat energy than a burning match. The reason is the sheer size of the iceberg. [Source]

2. Caves breathe. They inhale and exhale great quantities of air when the barometric pressure on the surface changes, and air rushes in or out seeking equilibrium. [Source]

3. While the chances of being struck by a meteor are extremely slim, there have been a number of documented cases: On June 21, 1994, Jose Martin of Spain was driving with his wife near Madrid when a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor crashed through his windshield, bent the steering wheel and ended up in the back seat. Martin suffered a broken finger while his wife was uninjured. [Source]

4. When a new queen bee emerges in a hive, she “pipes” (repeatedly sings a G# or A note) to incite her worker bees to fight for her if another queen in the hive needs killing. You can listen to the piping in the youtube clip above. All bees pipe the same note – but Africanized bees pipe more frequently and louder. You can hear another clearer example here. The difference in pitch between the video clip and the sound file is cause by compression and quality of recording devices.

5. There is a current scientific hypothesis that the sun has a companion which is currently about 1-1.5 light years away. It is believed that it has an elliptical orbit which, every 26 million years, sends matter towards the earth causing mass Extinction events. It was the discovery of these seemingly regular events that gave rise to the hypothesis in the first place. The star is predicted to be most likely a red or brown dwarf and has been named Nemesis or “Death Star”. [More]

6. Fulgurite is the name for fossilized lightning. They are natural hollow glass tubes formed in quartzose sand, or silica, or soil by lightning strikes and are formed when lightning with a temperature of at least 1,800 degrees Celsius instantaneously melts silica on a conductive surface and fuses grains together. The image above is a fulgurite.

7. When Anders Celsius (1701–1744) created the celsius scale, he invented it upside-down with 0 ℃ being the boiling point of water and 100 ℃ being the freezing point. It was reversed in the year of Celsius’ death by Carolus Linnaeus.

8. When dropped on a very hard, rigid surface, glass balls and steel balls will bounce higher than rubber ones. The reason is that rubber balls deform significantly on impact, flattening onto the surface, and then springing back. In the process of this squashing, some energy is lost. [Source - physics.illinois.edu]

9. 65 Million years ago, a meteor impact in Chicxulub, Mexico caused megatsunamis thousands of feet high. It is believed by some scientists that this impact was the single cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. [More]

10. Sound travels much faster through a steel than it does air: Sound travels at 5100 m/s through steel, 1480 m/s through water and 330 m/s through air.

11. Most icebergs are salt-free water caused by mainland glaciers. Some sea-water icebergs do exist – they are green. When an icebergs pics up sea-water, it can create green stripes. Additionally, normal water that freezes more rapidly in the ‘berg can cause blue stripes. These are quite stunning to see and the picture above is a good example of this effect. Click the image above for a larger view; and no, it isn’t photoshopped. Here’s proof.

12. The cracking sound of a whip is actually a sonic boom – this is because the tip of the whip travels faster than the speed of sound. The whip is the first man made device capable of exceeding the sound barrier.

13. At this moment, the earth is in the middle of an ice age which began around 2.58 million years ago. We are in an interglacial period which started between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago and may last for a further 50,000 years before global glaciation begins again. [Source - NASA]

14. The Nintendo gaming software company first opened its doors to business in 1889 as “Nintendo Koppai”. Its first product? Playing cards. [Why is this item on the list? Computer science.]

15. The world’s first nuclear reactor was built in a squash court beneath a Chicago football stadium on December 2, 1942. While it only generated enough power to light a flashlight, it proved that nuclear power was feasible.

The year 2012 is quickly approaching, that means, according to doomsday theorists, that the end is near. While it is incredibly unlikely that the world will end in 2012, the extinction events listed here potentially could happen and in some cases have happened in the past (think dinosaurs). Feel free to add your own to the list via the comments.

Basically, if the sea levels drop drastically (whether it be through Global Cooling – more on that soon – or sinking of the mid-ocean ridges), it could reduce the area around the Continental Shelf (the most productive part of the oceans) causing a “marine mass extinction” meaning all the little fishies, sharks, whales and almost all the life in the big blue dies. If that’s not bad enough weather patterns can change drastically leading to mass extinctions on land (That means us!).

Hey is that a big space rock heading for us? Yes it is and it’s also the next nugget on the list. An Impact event caused the massive K/T extinction. Basically the big rock hits us sending “dust and particulate aerosols” which is geek speak for a lot of nasty shit up into the atmosphere. This blocks out the light from the sun which causes not only plants to die but also lowers the temperature. It gets worse, if the pesky rock hits rocks rich in Sulfur not only do we get darkness at noon but a wash of acid rain too! And did I mention the mega-tsunamis and global forest fires?

This was the plot of “The Day after Tomorrow”. For some reason the earth gets too cold too fast causing death for many polar and temperate region animals. This in turn would cause a mass migration to the equator, and make more of the earth a desert. Also good luck finding water as most of it is now ice and snow. This event humanity could probably survive though, so breath easy.

There it is, basically the other side to Global Cooling. This time Temperate species will be in danger and other animals are forced to the poles. Melting snow and ice will make the ocean deeper and possibly cause Anoxic events (see further down).

Simply put, there are these things called Clathrates forming on the Continental Shelf. Think of a “pig in a blanket” meaning a tiny sausage wrapped in a covering of bread. But instead of a delicious snack-food the clathrate is water covered methane. If these methane snacks break apart this would release the gas into the atmosphere causing  accelerated Global Warming.

Oceanic anoxic events  occur when the Earth’s oceans become completely depleted of oxygen below the surface levels. Although anoxic events have not happened for millions of years, the geological record shows that they have happened many times in the past. Anoxic events may have caused mass extinctions. The black lines in the image above are from the aptian anoxic event.

This might have happened during the Permian-Triassic extinction event, in which a warming trend upset the balance between Plankton and bacteria that reduce Sulfate. Imagine that massive emissions of hydrogen sulfide “aka Rotten egg and fart stink” suddenly rise from the ocean poisoning anything and everything on land and sea. And if that wasn’t enough it weakens the Ozone Layer exposing what’s left to UV radiation.

The ocean is made of water but more importantly it’s salt water. But it’s more salty up top than down below. Oceanic Overturn is basically the deeper water replacing the water up top. “So what right?” Wrong! Remember Anoxic Events? The water down there has less oxygen meaning that the critters on the surface and middle depths are as good as dead.

This one is my favorite! Imagine that it’s a normal night. You’re stargazing with your girl (or guy), when a flash lights up the night sky, rather close by “galactically” speaking. A star has exploded. Before you can say “oh shit!” you and everyone on Earth is dead. That was a Gamma Ray Burst that just slammed into you, but instead of mutating into a rampaging green behemoth, you die instantly. You see that Gamma basically killed every cell in your body. But if it was weak only the half of the planet facing it died instantly. For the other half the Ozone was ripped away exposing Earth to UV radiation, dead anyway!

Man has become so powerful that nature can virtually do him no harm. But unfortunately he has developed his own methods for self-extinction. The most obvious is nuclear war. We have enough nukes on the planet to destroy all life – something which has seemed imminent in the past (think Cuban missile crisis). We can but hope that one day we become peaceful enough to not use these weapons on a global scale.

This list takes a look at some important and well intentioned inventions that eventually ended up causing catastrophe through environmental damage or loss of life. All of the inventors were honest scientists who were trying to improve the world, but unfortunately ended up doing quite the opposite. This list is in no particular order.

Fritz Haber was a Nobel Prize winning Jewish scientist who created cheap nitrogen fertilizer and also made chemical weapons for the German side in World War I. It was his creation of an insecticide mainly used as a fumigant in grain stores that was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.2 million people. His Zyklon B became the preferred method of execution in gas chambers during the Holocaust.

Arthur Galston developed a chemical that would speed the growth of soybeans and allow them to be grown in areas with a short season. Unfortunately in high concentrations it would defoliate them and it was made into a herbicide even though Galston had grave concerns about its effects on humans. It was supplied to the US government in orange striped barrels and 77 million litres of Agent Orange were sprayed on Vietnam causing 400000 deaths and disabilities with another 500000 birth defects.

Richard Jordan Gatling invented the Gatling gun after he noticed the majority of dead from the American Civil War died of illness, rather than gunshots. In 1877, he wrote: “It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine – a gun – which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease would be greatly diminished.” The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by ruthlessly mowing down native tribesmen armed with primitive weapons.

Joseph Wilbrand was a German chemist who discovered trinitrotoluene in 1863 for use as a yellow dye. It wasn’t until 1902 that the devastating power of TNT as it is better known was fully realized and it was adopted as an explosive in time for extensive use by both sides in World War I, World War II. It is still in military use today.

Thomas Midgley discovered the CFC Freon as a safe refrigerant to replace the highly toxic refrigerants such as ammonia in common use. This resulted in extensive damage to the Ozone Layer. His other famous idea was to add tetraethyl lead to gasoline to prevent “knocking” thus causing worldwide health issues and deaths from lead poisoning. He is considered to be the man that – “had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth’s history.”

Dr. Gerhard Schrader was a German chemist specializing in the discovery of new insecticides, hoping to make progress in the fight against hunger in the world. However, Dr. Schrader is best known for his accidental discovery of nerve agents such as sarin and tabun, and for this he is sometimes called the “father of the nerve agents”.

Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant was the first to discover heavy hydrogen nuclei could be made to react with each other . This fusion reaction is the basis of a hydrogen bomb. Ten years later, American scientist Edward Teller would press to use Oliphant’s discovery in order to build one. However, Oliphant did not foresee this – “We had no idea whatever that this would one day be applied to make hydrogen bombs. Our curiosity was just curiosity about the structure of the nucleus of the atom”.

Despite a lifelong passion for astronomy and a dream that rockets could be used to explore space, Wernher von Braun’s talents were used to produce the Nazi V2 rocket which killed 7,250 military personnel and civilians and an estimated 20,000 slave laborers during construction. Later in the US he developed a series of ICBM rockets capable of transporting multiple nuclear warheads around the globe before redeeming his reputation with the Saturn V rocket that put men on the moon

Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts set up “refugee camps” to provide refuge for civilian families who had been forced to abandon their homes for one or other reason related to the Boer War. However, when Lord Kitchener succeeded Roberts as commander-in-chief in South Africa in 1900, the British Army introduced new tactics in an attempt to break the guerrilla campaign and the influx of civilians grew dramatically as a result. Kitchener initiated plans to- “flush out guerrillas in a series of systematic drives, organized like a sporting shoot, with success defined in a weekly ‘bag’ of killed, captured and wounded, and to sweep the country bare of everything that could give sustenance to the guerrillas, including women and children.” Of the 28,000 Boer men captured as prisoners of war, 25,630 were sent overseas. The vast majority of Boers remaining in the local camps were women and children. Over 26,000 women and children were to perish in these concentration camps.

Anton Köllisch developed 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine as a by-product of research for a drug to combat abnormal bleeding. It was largely ignored for 70 years until it became popular in the dance clubs of the early 80s. It was only when the Rave culture of the late 80s adopted Ecstasy as its drug of choice that MDMA became one of the top four illegal drugs in use killing an estimated 50 people a year in the UK alone. Its inventor died in World War I.

Following on from our extremely popular top 20 amazing science facts, we have produced another list of facts that are entertaining and educational. These are all facts that are (hopefully) not especially well known to the average person.

1. Fingernails grow four times faster than toenails

2. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people

3. If you rub an onion on your foot – within 30 – 60 minutes you will be able to taste it – this is because it travels through the blood stream

4. You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath (if you hold it until you go unconscious, you begin to breath normally as soon as you do)

5. On one square inch of human skin there are 20 million microscopic creatures

6. Armadillos are the only creatures apart from men that can catch leprosy – there are known cases of armadillo to human transfers of the disease

7. A snail can sleep for 3 – 4 years – during which period it does not need food

8. Giraffes can live longer without water than camels

9. The songs of humpback whales can change dramatically from year to year, yet each whale in an oceanwide population always sings the same song as the others [Source]

10. The forces required to remove a foot from quicksand at a speed of one centimeter per second would require the same amount of force as “that needed to lift a medium-sized car.”

11. To test if a pearl is real, you can rub vinegar on it – the composition of the pearl will cause it to bubble furiously

12. Goldfish kept in a dark room turn much paler – and if it wasn’t for the color in the food they eat, they would turn completely white

13. Unlike normal bees, the Queen bee’s stinger is not barbed and can be used repeatedly without harming her

14. Quicksand doesn’t directly kill humans as it is usually not very deep at all – it is the fact that it can be incredibly difficult to remove yourself from quicksand that causes death by the environment – such as exposure.

15. Oysters can change between being female or male

16. Men are over 30% stronger than women on average, especially in the upper body, and men’s brains are heavier than women’s [Source, Source]

Where would the world be without scientific studies? I think most would agree that some can be very informative, some not so informative and others are just plain silly and a waste of money. The studies on this list are all rather unusual in nature, hopefully entertaining and each study was sourced at least twice on different websites. Some here I believe do have some merit while others will fall into the questionable category and the results may need to be taken with a grain of salt. The reason I have selected so many sexually oriented studies for this list is unknown and is perhaps worthy of another study.

The Study: The Elephant Self-Recognition Study
Conducted By: New York’s Wildlife Conservation Society

Three Asian elephants named Happy, Maxine, and Patty were observed by researchers after a large mirror was placed in the elephant’s yard. Happy was marked with a white X painted above her eye and a similar mark was made on the opposite side of her head in invisible paint of an identical smell and texture. When Happy saw her image in the mirror she repeatedly brought her trunk to her own head to touch the white mark. This is the ultimate test of self-recognition. The Elephants also made repetitive movements in front of the mirror and apparently used it to inspect their body parts. Maxine even put her trunk tip into her mouth and looked as though she was trying to study her mouth’s interior.

Interesting Fact: Elephants have now joined apes and dolphins in being part of a small group of animals that are able to recognize themselves in the mirror.

The Study: Sheep Recognizing Faces Study

The Babraham Institute investigated sheep’s ability to distinguish and remember faces of both other sheep and humans. The researchers trained the sheep to associate one of the pair with a food reward. 20 sheep were presented with pictures of 25 pairs of sheep faces. They determined that the sheep could recognize the individuals associated with a reward even in profile. The team further discovered that sheep can remember as many as 50 sheep faces in addition to a familiar human face for up to two years.

Interesting Fact: Scientists concluded that because sheep have such sophisticated facial recognition skills, they must have much greater social requirements than previously thought

The Study: Do Married Couples Start to Look Alike Study
Conducted By: Psychologist Robert Zajonc at the University of Michigan

For this study 110 participants were presented with random photographs of faces, and were instructed to match the men with the women who most closely resembled each other. Two dozen of the photographs were of couples when first married and another two dozen were of the same couples 25 years later. The judges were able to match husbands and wives far more often when the couples were older than when they were younger.

Interesting Fact: The results could not be explained but there were some possible explanations. The first was diet with the thinking that if both partners eat a high fat diet, their faces will both tend to look chubby. Another explanation was environment such as sunshine that would affect the skin in similar ways. A third explanation was predisposition with the idea that people are more likely to choose partners who will grow to look like them. The most popular explanation was empathy. People grow to look similar because they are empathizing with each other so the couple would copy each other’s facial expressions. Then over time because of all the empathizing, their faces come to look more similar.

The Study: Curvy Hips Intelligent Study
Conducted By: The University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Santa Barbara

Researchers looked at data from a study of more than 16,000 women and girls that detailed their body measurements, as well as their education level and scores on various cognitive tests. The women were measured by their waist-to-hip ratio or WHR. This is done by dividing your waist size by your hip size. The report indicated that women with waists that were about 70 percent of the diameter of their hips scored slightly better on intelligence tests and tended to have a slightly higher level of education than women with a higher waist-to-hip ratio. Also women with lower WHRs and their children had significantly higher cognitive test scores. One theory is the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in a woman’s hips and thighs are a key indicator of her heart health. It’s also important for the health of her brain and the brain of any child she may bear.

Interesting Fact: Scientists call the study intriguing but say the differences in cognitive ability that the researchers found were somewhat small. Because of this they think it would be a mistake to over interpret the findings that just because a woman has a curvy figure, she’s smarter.

The Study: Are Women More Attractive in Red Study
Conducted By: The University of Rochester NY,

This study wanted to test whether men have different attitudes towards women based on the color they are wearing. In one experiment Psychologists asked: “Imagine that you are going on a date with this woman and have $100 in your wallet. How much would you be willing to spend on your date?” Pictures of the exact same women were shown to men with different colors. The woman wearing red was more likely to be treated to a more expensive date. In all the experiments, women shown framed by or wearing red were rated significantly more attractive and sexually desirable by men than women in other colors.

Interesting Fact: One of the theories to explain the outcome of the study was it could be due to deep biological roots because nonhuman male primates, such as baboons and chimpanzees, are known to be attracted to females displaying red.

The Study: Do Herring Communicate by Passing Gas Study
Conducted By: Canada and Britain

Two teams carried out this research project. One studied Pacific herring in Bamfield, British Columbia, while the other focused on Atlantic herring in Oban, Scotland. It was discovered that the Atlantic and Pacific herring create a mysterious underwater noise. It turns out that the high-frequency sound was created by releasing air from their anuses. The noise was always accompanied by a fine stream of bubbles. Researchers suspect herring hear the bubbles as they’re expelled, helping the fish form protective shoals at night.

Interesting Fact: Researchers named the phenomenon Fast Repetitive Tick, which makes for a rather interesting acronym, FRT. Scientists say unlike the human version, these FRTs are thought to bring the fish closer together.

The Study: Bra Support for Bouncing Breasts Study
Conducted By: University of Portsmouth, England

70 women were recruited including students at University of Portsmouth with bra sizes ranging from A-cup to extra-large (DD, E, FF, G, H, HH, J and JJ). Each woman walked, jogged and ran while wearing different bra types. During the exercise, biomechanical measurements were taken of breast movement in three directions: up-and-down, side-to-side and in-and-out. During walking exercise, the women’s breasts moved relatively the same amount in all directions. But when participants sped up to a jog or run, their breasts moved proportionally more in some directions than others: The overall pattern of the movement resembled a figure-8. The study showed A-cup women, wearing a sports bra reduced overall breast movement by 53 percent, compared with a 55-percent reduction for G-cup women. A pair of D-cup breasts weighs about 15 to 23 pounds (7 to 10 kilograms) and had little support with ligaments and the skin doing most or all of the support work. It was concluded that whether women are flat-chested or big-busted, ordinary bras fall short when it comes to supporting bouncing breasts.

Interesting Fact: The momentum created by intense bouncing can stretch the breast’s connective tissues, causing sagging and pain for many women. An estimated 50 percent of women experience breast pain during exercise.

The Study: Do Women Walk Sexier When Fertile Study
Conducted By: Meghan Provosat Queens University, Canada

The idea behind this study was to determine whether women give subtle signals to men to advertise they are experiencing different levels of sex hormones. The lead researcher Meghan Provost had expected a sexy hip-swinging walk to be one of those signals. She analyzed the gait of female volunteers and their levels of sex hormones in their saliva. She then showed video clips to 40 men asking them to rate the attractiveness of the way the women walked and then matched the results to the hormone tests. The results were so surprising that she repeated the experiment again with another group of male viewers. The researchers found those with alluring walks were the furthest away from ovulation and the women who were most fertile walked with fewer hip movements and with their knees closer together.

Interesting Fact: It was suggested that during the most high hormonal time it is in a woman’s best interests to form a closer attachment to one man to help raise children rather than to advertise her fertile time and be approached by a larger number of competing males. Also a sexy walk would be too obvious, so women are thought to use changes in smell and facial expressions that can be experienced only at close range.

The Study: Why Female Monkeys Shout During Sex Study
Conducted By: The German Primate Center in Göttingen

To investigate the purpose behind the female monkey’s shouting calls, behavioral scientist and primatologists focused on Barbary macaques (Old World monkey species) for two years in a nature reserve in Gibraltar. The researchers found that females yelled during 86 percent of all sexual encounters. When females shouted, males ejaculated 59 percent of the time. However, when females did not holler, males ejaculated less than 2 percent of the time. To see if yelling resulted from how vigorous the sex was the scientists counted the number of pelvic thrusts males gave and timed when they happened. They found when shouting occurred thrusting increased and led to more vigorous sex. It was concluded that female monkeys may shout during sex to help their male partners climax. Scientists found that without these yells male Barbary macaques almost never ejaculated. The information on the study did not reveal how they were able to detect whether an ejaculation occurred but I guess its best to leave some things to the imagination.

Interesting Fact: Male and female Barbary macaques are promiscuous, often having sex with many partners. The females shout when they are most fertile, so males can make the most use of their sperm.

The Study: Foot Size and Penile Length Study
Conducted By: The University College, London

In this study the researchers measured 104 men’s feet and their penises. Because there is no perfect way to measure a man’s penis, they did what many other studies do that measure penis length. The researchers stretched the penis with a defined amount of force to determine how long it can get. This gives a pretty good indication of how long the penis would be when fully erect. The result of this study, (to the relief of all size seven shoe-wearing males) was that there is no scientific support for the relationship between a man’s shoe size and the length of his penis.

Interesting Fact: In another study a group of Greek researchers measured height, weight, waist/hip ratio, finger length and penis length of fifty-two men, aged nineteen to thirty-eight. They found that age and body characteristics were not associated with size of penis except for the “index finger length, which correlated significantly with the dimensions of the flaccid, maximally stretched penis.” A similar study with 1500 men also found that length of index the finger was significantly correlated with penis dimensions.

For most computer users, Windows is the only operating system (OS) they’ve ever used. In fact, most people don’t even know about other OSes at all, and that is not good. In our daily lives we always like to have a choice. Whether it’s different flavors of ice-cream or different brands and types of shirts and pants, we like to have a choice. So the question is, why not have a choice with our computers? While we all get to choose whether we want NVIDIA or ATI graphics card, most PCs come with pre-installed Windows operating system. It’s almost shoved down our throats. Where’s the choice in that?

There are many operating systems out there, some are good and some are bad. This list is about Linux, a free open-source operating system. There is a chance you have never heard of it, and even if you have you probably carry a few misconceptions about it. I’ll try to dispel some of these misconceptions starting with the most common:

Misconception: Linux is an Operating System (OS)

Actually – no it isn’t. Linux is an OS kernel. The kernel is the core of all operating systems, and of course Windows has one too. The quality of the kernel is vital to the running of the OS. If your kernel is slow or buggy your entire operating system will be slow and buggy. For end users like you and me, this means more crashes, Blue Screens Of Death (if you don’t know what BSOD is, you’re a lucky bastard), freezes and the most terrible consequence – data loss. There are different types of kernels out there, each with their pros and cons. For more information on them, just google “kernel”, it’s an interesting topic.

The proper name for an operating system using the Linux kernel would be “GNU/Linux”, because the Linux kernel wouldn’t do much for you without the GNU project software. You can find more on that on Google. But, for the sake of readability of this list, we’re going to use the word “Linux” instead of “GNU/Linux” to refer to operating systems that use the Linux kernel.

Misconception: Linux is a command line OS

Wrong. While Linux does rely on command line utilities, it doesn’t mean you have to use them. On Linux, a GUI is only an addition to the operating system. For you, this is a good thing because you can choose between many types of “windows”, or “window managers” as they are called on Linux.

Two most popular window managers are KDE and Gnome. KDE looks similar to Windows in many ways, and it is a good choice for those who don’t want to lose their Windows look and feel. Gnome is different from Windows, and for many (including myself) in a very positive and refreshing way. But KDE and Gnome are not the only choice: Enlightenment, Metacity, IceWM, Blackbox, Window Maker, FVWM and many, many others

Also, if you’re interested in what Linux WMs can do when compared to Windows, take a look at this YouTube video which shows a small subset of available effects on Compiz Fusion window manager; Fun, isn’t it?

Misconception: Linux is for geeks only

Actually, I think it’s quite the opposite. Although this was true years ago, when Linux was an infant and full of pimples, it certainly isn’t like that any longer. If you take a careful look at the user interfaces of Linux and Windows, you’ll often be surprised how intuitive Linux is. As an example, I’ll just mention my wife, who is not particularly computer savvy, yet manages to use Ubuntu Linux on daily basis with no trouble at all. According to her (and I quote): “Linux is far less irritating, it doesn’t stop working for me at random like Windows does.”

Now there’s a candidate for an official Linux slogan..

Misconception: Linux is not compatible with Windows stuff

Well, yes and no, it really depends. For most users, Linux is very much compatible. You’ll be able to read your emails, open your Office documents, view and edit your photo albums, and much more. Often with better and faster tools than you’d be able to find on Windows. Flagships of open-source software like The Gimp, Inkscape, OpenOffice and many others, can import, read and often export proprietary file formats (such as Microsoft Office documents, Photoshop PSDs etc). Often, these tools can offer you even more than those you’re used to. For example, I can export my document from OpenOffice to PDF in just one click. No custom printers installed, no “free” web converters. It’s all natively supported.

Of course, there are files which can’t be opened under Linux. You should ask yourself why. Is it Linux to blame, or the authors of that file format, which force their users to use an operating system they find suitable? Think about it. Do you really want to depend on your software vendors to be able to access your data? Or use an open-source and standardized format?

As a side note, a huge collection of open-source applications written for Linux also have a Windows version. Isn’t that neat?

If that’s not good enough for you, Linux comes with a Windows translation layer called Wine. It allows you to run Windows application on Linux. Basically, it serves as a bridge between Linux and Windows applications. For you that means not giving up your familiar Windows programs.

Misconception: Nobody is using Linux

Terribly, terribly wrong. The majority of the World Wide Web is standing on the shoulders of Linux and GNU software. Because Linux is modular and secure, it’s the most logical choice for a web server. Not only that, every year, more and more users recognize the advantages of using Linux,and are using it at home. Many companies and governments have switched their systems to Linux (I am looking at you, New Zealand). It’s cheap, durable and safe, and by the looks of it – it will never die. Unlike commercial operating systems, it is maintained by the community – all of us – instead of a large company. If a company declares bankruptcy and disappears from the face of the Earth, who will maintain your OS?

If you’re still not convinced, let this be a lesson to you: Listverse is written in PHP and it is hosted on an array of Linux machines.

Misconception: Linux doesn’t have technical support

Sure it does. But unlike Windows, you have choice of paid and unpaid technical support. By unpaid technical support, I mean a large number of communities on “the Internets”, available twenty four hours a day. It is a community of enthusiasts, who love using Linux and will be more than willing to help you with your problem. If for no other reason, than to make another Linux convert!

As far as paid technical support goes, there are companies such as Red Hat and Canonical which do just that. If you really need it, you can get the same kind of technical support you get for Windows.

Misconception: Linux is difficult to maintain

This also might have been true many years ago. Today, Linux requires little or no maintenance at all. Unlike Windows, if you just use it, it will never break. Linux makes it very difficult for you to break it. If you have kids, cousins or grandparent who frequently mess up their Windows installation, or their PCs become virus infested – give them Linux. It will make your life easier. I have a testing machine at work, running an ancient Fedora 5 Linux and the only time it needs a reboot is when a power failure occurs. If you can call that a reboot.

Misconception: There are no games for Linux

I partially agree with this one, but let’s be fair about it, shall we? Games have always been – and still are – a major drawback when it comes to switching to Linux. In terms of volume (and I confess, often quality too), there are a lot more games for Windows than for Linux. Only a few companies have decided to make a Linux version of their game. The famous ID Software is one of them. As well as their own Doom, Quake 3, and Quake 4, many other commercial games have been ported to Linux: Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Civilization 3, Soldier of Fortune, Tribes 2 and many others.

This is where the brave Linux community comes to save the day. There are numerous efforts towards creating truly fun and playable games – free of charge. Games like Sauerbraten (pictured above), Nexuiz, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, UFO: Alien Invasion and Glest are all very much free and very much playable.

Also, as mentioned above, you can run many games using the aforementioned Wine. Even the famous World Of Warcraft works on it. And if you’re really addicted, you can also pay for Cedega or CrossOver Games, commercial variants of Wine which specialize in games.

Misconception: A lot of hardware doesn’t work under Linux

Again, this was true many years ago. Today, you can install Linux on almost any machine, and it will recognize all your hardware, install the appropriate drivers and never ask you anything again. It is true that Linux has some compatibility issues with some printers, scanners and wireless cards, but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed. In fact, Linux contributors are aware of this and things are improving each and every day.

And here’s another thing: if you have sufficient knowledge, *you* can contribute a driver for your device. If you’re missing a feature, or don’t like the existing ones, you have the option of changing them yourself. Keep that in mind next time Microsoft changes the appearance of the start menu.

Misconception: You have to ditch Windows to use Linux

Very much not true. Many Linux distributions also offer the so called Live CD, which enables you to try Linux without the installation. Simply download, burn, reboot your PC and off you go. There are also Live USB flash drives versions. If you try it out and like it, most of those Live distributions have an option of installing Linux – alongside Windows. You can use both operating systems on a same computer with no trouble at all. Linux folks have made sure of that, because they know nobody wants to jump into the unknown.

If you don’t want that, there are always alternatives, like the the Virtual Box, which allows you to install Linux on a virtual machine inside your Windows. Also, nobody’s stopping you from running Virtual Box on Linux and running Windows inside Linux.

So what’s next? My recommendation is to try it out yourself. If you don’t like it, at least you tried. Good places to start would be a Linux Distribution Chooser. After that, give it a spin. My personal recommendation is Ubuntu, it is very simple and straightforward. But, if you don’t like it, there are many others to choose from and discover what suits you – not some corporate monster.