關於人體的這6個“事實”其實是僞科學大綱

一直以來，我們都認爲每個人的指紋都是獨一無二的，但事實果真如此嗎？以下是我們都堅信的一些關於人體的“事實”，但已經被證實是僞科學。

Myth 1: Your fingerprints are completely unique
誤解一：你的指紋是獨一無二的

For more than a century, fingerprints have played a major role in forensic investigations. It all started with Scottish scientist and physician Henry Faulds who, in 1888, wrote an article asserting that each person has a wholly unique set of fingerprints.
一個多世紀以來，指紋一直在法醫鑑定中發揮着巨大的作用。指紋說源起於蘇格蘭科學家和醫生亨利•福爾茲1888年寫的一篇論文，論文中聲稱每個人都有獨一無二的指紋。

Now, a single print in the wrong place can be enough for a criminal conviction. However, we have no way to conclusively prove that each of our collections of whorls, loops, and arches is unique (short of gathering the prints of every person who ever lived and comparing them).
現在，在錯誤的地方留下一個指紋就足以定罪。但是，我們還無法最終證明我們所收集到的各種指紋（鬥型紋、箕型紋、弓型紋）都是獨一無二的，更不用說收集和比較那些已經過世的人的指紋了。

"It's impossible to prove that no two are the same," Mike Silverman, a forensic science regulator in the United Kingdom, told The Telegraph. "It's improbable, but so is winning the lottery, and people do that every week."
“沒有兩個指紋完全一樣，這事沒法證明，”英國法醫監管機構官員邁克•西爾弗曼告訴《每日電訊報》說，“基本不可能，但就和買彩票一樣，儘管知道幾乎沒可能中獎，但還有人每週都買彩票。”

There can be serious consequences if most people believe that fingerprint analysis is infallible. In 2005, Simon Cole, a criminologist at the University of California at Irvine, published a study detailing the 22 known cases of fingerprint mistakes in the history of the American legal system.
如果多數人都相信指紋鑑定絕對不會出錯，可能會帶來嚴重的後果。2005年，美國加州大學歐文分校的刑事學家西蒙•科爾發佈了一項研究報告，列出了美國司法制度建立以來已知的22個指紋鑑定導致的錯誤。

He stressed the need to address this misconception lest more innocent people find themselves accused, or even convicted, of crimes they did not commit.
他強調了破除這一誤解的必要性，以免更多無辜的人因爲指紋被控告，甚至定罪。

Myth 2: Rolling your tongue is a genetic trait
誤解二：會捲舌頭是基因決定的

In 1940, geneticist Alfred Sturtevant published a paper claiming that genetics determined your ability to roll your tongue - parents who could roll their tongues were likely to have children who could as well.
1940年，遺傳學家阿爾弗雷德•斯特蒂文特發表了一篇論文，聲稱基因決定了你能否捲舌頭——能捲舌頭的父母會生出能捲舌頭的子女。

Just 12 years later, geneticist Philip Matlock disproved this finding with a study of his own. When he compared 33 sets of identical twins, he found that seven of those pairs contained one twin that could roll his or her tongue but the other couldn't.
才過了12年，基因學家菲利普•馬特洛克就用自己的研究推翻了這一發現。馬特洛克比較33對同卵雙胞胎後發現，其中有7對雙胞胎一個會捲舌頭，另一個不會。

Since the genes of identical twins are the same, genes clearly weren't the deciding factor for tongue rolling. Still, the misconception persists 65 years after Matlock published his debunking study.
既然同卵雙胞胎的基因是相同的，基因顯然不是能否捲舌頭的決定因素。儘管如此，在馬特洛克發表了這項顛覆性研究65年之後，仍有人持有這種誤解。

And though it's not life-threatening, that misunderstanding can cause unnecessary stress. As evolutionary biologist John McDonald told PBS, he's received emails from children concerned that they aren't related to their parents because they don't share the ability.
儘管這種誤解不會危及生命，但還是會帶來不必要的壓力。進化生物學家約翰•麥克唐納告訴美國公共廣播公司說，他曾收到孩子寫來的電子郵件，寫信的孩子擔心自己不是父母親生的，因爲父母（自己）會捲舌頭而自己（父母）不會。

Myth 3: You have five senses
誤解三：人有五種感官

Children often learn that they have five senses - sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. That's a "fact" that originated in a work by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, written around 350 BC.
通常孩子們學到的知識是，人有五種感官——視覺、聽覺、味覺、觸覺和嗅覺。這一“事實”源於希臘哲學家亞里士多德於公元前350年左右寫的一部作品。

However, you actually have more than five senses. Way more. In fact, scientists aren't even sure just how many more - estimates range from 22 to 33. Some of those other senses include equilibrioception (sense of balance), thermoception (sense of temperature), nociception (sense of pain), and kinaesthesia (sense of movement).
然而，實際上，人的感官不止五種，而是比五種多得多。事實上，科學家甚至都不確定還有多少種感官，據估計有22到33種。其他一些感官包括平衡感、溫度感、疼痛感和運動感。

While none of these additional senses include the ability to communicate with the dead, some are absolutely essential for life. For example, our sense of thirst helps our bodies maintain appropriate hydration levels, and people who lack that sense - a rare condition called adipsia - can become severely dehydrated or even die.
儘管其他的這些感官不包括和死人交流的能力，但有些感官對生存至關重要。比如，我們的口渴感覺能幫助身體維持適當的水分，沒有口渴感覺的人——這種罕見的病叫渴感缺乏症——可能會嚴重脫水甚至死掉。

Myth 4: Fingernails and hair continue to grow after death
誤解四：指甲和頭髮在人死後還會繼續生長

Our bodies do lots of creepy things after we die, but they don't keep growing our fingernails and hair. To do that, our bodies need to produce new cells - something that simply isn't possible after death.
我們的身體在我們死後還會做很多讓人毛骨悚然的事情，但我們的指甲和頭髮在死後並不會繼續生長。如果要繼續生長，人體需要製造新細胞，而這在人死後是根本不可能發生的。

This morbid misconception dates back until at least 1929 when writer Erich Remarque immortalised it in his novel All Quiet on the Western Front. In fact, his misunderstanding is due to an optical illusion.
這種病態的誤解要追溯到至少1929年，當時作家埃裏希•雷馬克在他的小說《西線無戰事》中讓這種觀念深入人心。事實上，雷馬克的誤解源於光學錯覺。

While our nails and hair don't continue to grow after we breathe our final breath, our skin does "shrink" as it becomes dehydrated. As the skin retracts, our nails and hair become more exposed, and, thus, they may appear to grow.
在我們斷氣後，我們的指甲和頭髮並不會繼續生長，但我們的皮膚會因爲脫水而收縮。皮膚收縮後，我們的指甲和頭髮會更多地暴露在外，因此它們看上去就好像繼續生長了。

Luckily, getting this one wrong isn't likely to cause much harm - beyond its potential to give children nightmares or exacerbate a person's thanatophobia, of course.
幸運的是，這個誤解不會造成太多危害——除了讓孩子做噩夢，或加劇人們的死亡恐懼症。

Myth 5: You should never wake a sleepwalker
誤解五：你絕對不能叫醒一個夢遊的人

Though about 7 percent of the population will sleepwalk at some point in their lives, no one knows for sure what causes somnambulism. What to do should you encounter a slumbering pedestrian is also a source of confusion thanks to a very old misconception.
儘管世界上大約7%的人口會在人生的某個時期夢遊，但沒人知道是什麼原因導致了夢遊症。正是因爲這個古老的誤解，人們搞不清在碰到一個正在夢遊的行人時到底應該怎麼做。

Mark Pressman, a psychologist and sleep specialist at Lankenau Hospital in Pennsylvania, told Live Science the belief that it's dangerous to wake a sleepwalker began in ancient times when people used to think your soul left your body while you slept.
美國賓夕法尼亞州藍科納醫院睡眠專家、心理學家馬克•普雷斯曼告訴生活科學網站說，認爲叫醒夢遊者很危險的觀念源自於古代，古人認爲在你睡覺的時候，你的靈魂會離開你的身體。

Waking a sleepwalker, therefore, would doom the sleeper to a soulless existence. The supposed consequences of waking a sleepwalker have since evolved - some say you could induce a heart attack, or send the sleeper into a permanent state of insanity.
因此，叫醒夢遊者會讓其變成沒有靈魂的人。後來，叫醒夢遊者的後果就演變爲誘發心臟病或讓夢遊者從此瘋掉。

While Pressman said waking a sleepwalker won't harm them, it might not be easy to do. Letting a sleepwalker's journey continue uninterrupted is clearly not an option since it could have devastating consequences - sleepwalkers have been known to injure themselves or even die in their zombie-like state.
儘管普雷斯曼說叫醒夢遊者並不會傷害他們，但叫醒他們可能並不容易。讓夢遊者的旅途不受干擾地繼續下去顯然行不通，因爲可能產生災難性的後果——曾有夢遊者在夢遊途中受傷，甚至有人在殭屍般的狀態中死去。

The best course of action, therefore, is to simply guide a sleepwalker back to bed.
因此，最好的處理辦法就是引導夢遊者回到牀上。

Myth 6: Swallowed chewing gum takes seven years to digest
誤解六：吞進肚子的口香糖要花七年時間才能消化掉

If you believe the legend, gum you swallowed years ago is still in your body; your digestive tract is still working on the chewy mass. While it's impossible to pinpoint the origin of that myth, debunking it is fairly easy.
如果你相信這個傳言，那麼你幾年前吞下的口香糖仍然在你的體內；你的消化道仍然在處理這塊東西。儘管這一傳言的起源不明，但是揭穿它還是相當容易的。

Gum is chewy because it contains a synthetic rubber base that simply isn't digestible. But that doesn't mean swallowed gum can't complete the journey through your digestive tract.
口香糖很耐嚼是因爲它含有一種不可消化的合成橡膠。但這並不意味着口香糖不能完成消化道的這段旅程。

As Rodger Liddle, a gastroenterologist at the Duke University School of Medicine, told Scientific American, the human body is capable of passing objects up to roughly the size of a quarter, so a single piece of gum should pose no problem.
杜克大學醫學院的胃腸病學家羅傑•利德爾告訴《科學美國人》雜誌說，人體內可以通過一個25美分硬幣大小的物體，所以一塊口香糖應該不會造成什麼問題。

If you were to swallow several pieces of chewing gum in a short amount of time, though, you could end up with a mass too large to pass. At that point, you may need to call on a doctor to remove it manually - in 1998, pediatric gastroenterologist David Milov published a study noting three such cases in children, and the ordeal does not seem pleasant.
然而，如果你在短時間內吞下幾塊口香糖，這麼大塊應該無法通過消化道。如果是這樣，你也許需要讓醫生手動移除。1998年，小兒腸病學專家大衛•米羅夫發表了一份研究報告，其中列出了三個這樣的兒童病例，而且移除口香糖的過程似乎並不好受。