25 silly myths about Earth, space, and physics that drive me crazy

Whenever someone strikes up a conversation with me about the universe, I get animated.

No surprise there: I've made my living writing about astronomy, physics, geology, spaceflight, and other areas of science for nearly a decade, and have read obsessively on these topics for much longer than that.

However, people have shared a lot of peculiar "facts" with me over the years that ended up being totally false.

Below are some of the silliest and most common claims I've heard.

No one is perfect - I believed many of these statements at some point in my life - but it's time to put these myths, misconceptions, and inaccuracies to rest.