Good news, everyone:  Remember that piece of gum that you swallowed back in 2015?  Well, it’s been more than seven years, so it’s FINALLY passed through your digestive system.  

People on social media are talking about the DUMBEST MYTHS that some people still believe . . . and the seven-year gum thing was mentioned.  Here are some others:

1.  Lie detectors, as a literal thing.  They record stress responses, which might signal when someone is lying . . . or not . . . depending on how a person’s body reacts or if they’re anxious.  They’re not admissible in court for a reason.

2.  That there’s a dramatic “reading” of a person’s will . . . with everyone in one room . . . like in movies.  Estate lawyers say that MAY have happened . . . 150 years ago . . . but in reality, they just mail everyone a copy if they want it.

3.  That Black Belts have to register their fists as weapons.

4.  That you eat X-number of spiders in your sleep every year.  Thankfully, it probably never happens.  For a sleeping person to swallow even one live spider, it would have to involve many unlikely circumstances.

5.  On a more serious note, the idea that you have to wait 48 hours to report someone missing.

6.  If you drop a penny off a skyscraper, it will eventually fall fast enough to kill someone.  In reality, it would hit terminal velocity . . . about 30 miles per hour for its mass . . . and if it hit someone, it would feel like being flicked in the forehead.

7.  That humans only use 10% of their brain.  That’s kind of like saying we only use 33% of a traffic light.

8.  Having your headlights off at night is a gang initiation . . . so don’t flash your lights to alert them.

9.  That shaving makes your hair grow back thicker.

10.  That MSG is any worse for you than salt.

11.  The Earth is flat.

12.  Eating carrots helps you see in the dark.

13.  One person playfully added:  “Tear here to open.”

14.  And one joked, “That if any of my limbs hang off the bed while I’m sleeping, a monster will grab them.”

15.  “That he who smelt it, dealt it.  That is the defense of the guilty.”

(And just to be clear about the swallowing gum thing:  Most people empty their stomachs 30 to 120 minutes after eating, and that includes gum.)

(The gum itself is insoluble . . . just like the fiber base of raw vegetables, corn, popcorn kernels, and seeds.  But even though our bodies won’t break it down, that won’t prevent it from passing through us like everything else.)

(The more you know.)