So I built a stegosaurus model kit, which included some factoids in the instructions. One of these factoids was that stegosaurs are not believed to have had a secondary brain in the hips to help them control their rear half after all. That was wild to me, since the whole stegosaurs and sauropods with their tiny heads needing a secondary brain for their huge bodies was commonly accepted back when I was a kid. So I looked it up, and indeed, the current hypothesis is that the cavity that the second brain was thought to occupy is used for a thing called a glycogen body. But what exactly does a glycogen body do? We’ll get back to you on that, apparently.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago
    1. It was taken as a given. And my finest ever teacher was a hippy, from 1st though 6th grade. She was the best of the best, taught us what was known, at the time.
    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      It does make you wonder how many things we’ve all been carrying around in our heads since childhood, that were just passed down through generations without any amount of checking.

      Chances are she was taught it when she was at school, by somebody else who was taught it when they were at school. Before the internet it was kind of hard to look shit like that up, and encyclopaedias might not have covered it either. UNless you spent your life delving into a specific area, the edges of knowledge were (and still are) kind of fuzzy.

      • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        “Going out with wet hair gives you a cold” No, viruses from shit indoor air quality and smoke from indoor fires inflaming your mucous membranes gives you a cold.