The 7 most ridiculous things some people still believe

Reddit users have come together to share some of the most ridiculous (but strangely prevalent) beliefs people still hold.

Here is a selection:

1. Flu vaccines protect you from the common cold

According to the NHS, the flu vaccine contains “inactivated, or killed, strains of the flu virus” and stimulates your immune system into making antibodies to attack that specific virus.

The common cold, on the other hand, is a mild viral infection.

They are separate things.

2. Childhood vaccines cause autism

A study of over one million children found no evidence to link childhood vaccines like the MMR to autism, or autism spectrum disorder, while Andrew Wakefield's research has been withdrawn and discredited.

3. Blood inside you is blue and only turns red when it comes into contact with oxygen

In its oxygenated form (when it leaves the lungs) blood is a bright red colour. In its deoxygenated form, the colour is a darker red.

Veins appear blue when light penetrates the skin and is absorbed and reflected back to the eye.

Only higher energy wave-lengths can do this, hence the blue/green colour.

4. Birth control pills/IUDs protect you from contracting STDs

The only form of birth control that can prevent the contraction of STDs and STIs via sexual intercourse is the condom.

5. The Holocaust didn't happen

Denying the Holocaust is illegal in Germany, however there continues to be a persistent minority of people to question its existence.

The millions of people who died, as well as countless testimonies, governments and memorials confirming its existence are all proof that the genocide of over six million Jewish people did in fact happen.

6. Global warming doesn't exist

The US President-elect Donald Trump held this belief.

In a recent interview with the New York Times he said:

I think right now … well, I think there is some connectivity. There is some, something. It depends on how much. It also depends on how much it’s going to cost our companies. You have to understand, our companies are noncompetitive right now.

While climate change is a part of the earth’s natural aging, the accelerated rate of change confirms that increased levels of greenhouse gases - which have resulted in the icecaps melting and thousands of species of animals becoming extinct - is a man-made phenomenon.

7. The Earth is flat

There is an entire community of people who still believe the Earth is flat.

Evidence to the contrary is overwhelming – the shadow of the Earth on the moon during an eclipse, images from space and the existence of time zones all point to a round Earth.

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