7 ‘facts’ you learned in school that are no longer true

Over time, even facts we consider steadfast truths can change. People used to think doctors could forgo washing their hands before surgery. Knowledge is always evolving.

The seven ideas below probably changed since your school days. Re-educate yourself:

1. Then: Pluto is a planet
Now: Pluto isn’t a planet

In 2003, an astronomer found a larger object beyond Pluto — which he named Eris, according to NASA. The new information caused a bunch of other astronomers to question what really makes a planet a planet, and they decided, based on size and location, that Pluto just didn’t make the cut. Neither did Eris, actually. Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet. Needless to say, elementary schools kids were pretty bummed.

But there may be hope. Researchers have recently been debating whether to make Pluto a planet again.

2. Then: Diamond is the hardest substance
Now: Ultrahard nanotwinned cubic boron nitride is the hardest substance

In the simplest terms, researchers compressed boron nitride particles to form “ultrahard nanotwinned cubic boron nitride.” They simply re-organised the particles like an onion, or a flaky rose, or those little Russian dolls that fit inside one another.

As a result, expect women everywhere to start asking for ultrahard nanotwinned cubic boron nitride engagement rings. Because those really are forever.

3. Then: Witches in Salem were burned at the stake

Now: They were actually hanged

Even if you didn’t read Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” in high school, you probably learned somewhere that the townspeople of Salem burned witches at the stake.

But that never happened, according to Richard Trask, a town archivist for Danvers (formerly known as Salem Village.) He also wrote a book detailing the time period called “Salem Village Witch Hysteria.”

At the time of the trials, New England still followed English law, which listed witchcraft as a felony punishable by hanging — not burning at the stake, Trask said. In Europe, however, the church labelled witchcraft heresy and did tie up suspected practitioners and light them on fire. You can see where the confusion started.

4. Then: Israelite slaves built the pyramids
Now: Egyptian workers built the pyramids themselves

Even movies like “The Prince Of Egypt” perpetuate the idea that slaves built the pyramids. Although many think the Bible tells us they did, the book doesn’t mention the story specifically.

No Jews built the pyramids because Jews didn’t exist at the period when the pyramids were built.

Recent archaeological findings actually show that Egyptians built the pyramids themselves. Workers were recruited from poor families in the north and south but were highly respected, earning crypts near the pyramids and even proper preparation for burial.

Slaves wouldn’t have been treated so honourably.

https://giphy.com/gifs/pyramids-qcyym63USQV6E

5. Then: Folding a piece of paper more than seven times is mathematically impossible.
Now: The record stands at 13.

Whether in art class or science, this rumour definitely spread among the masses. But Britney Gallivan, a California high school student, didn’t bite.

She, with some volunteers, bought a giant roll of paper and proceeded to blow everyone’s mind by folding it a surprising 11 times. In 2012, students at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts, broke Gallivan’s record, folding paper 13 times.

6. Then: The Great Wall Of China is the only man-made structure visible from space.
Now: Many man-made places are visible from space.

In fact, rumours that you can see the landmark, not only from a spaceship, but all the way from the moon, date back as far as 1938. In 2003 though, the first Chinese astronaut finally shattered the myth.

The party responsible, a man named Yang Liwei, admitted he couldn’t see the Great Wall from space, according to NASA. You can also see the lights of large cities — and major roadways and bridges and airports and dams and reservoirs. The moon factoid, however, is totally wrong.

https://giphy.com/gifs/planet-earth-svrBFOWtEqfG8

7. Then: Five (or three) kingdoms of classification exist.
Now: There might be as many as eight kingdoms.

Depending when you grew up, your primary school science teacher probably lectured about three main kingdoms of life — animals, plants, and bacteria (monera) — or five, including fungi and protists, too.

Either way, we’ve expanded our classification of life since then. In addition to the five kingdoms above, we now know of archaea, previously thrown under monera. Archaea superficially look like other one-celled organisms called eubacteria, but they’re completely different.

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