8 Things You’re Arguing About That Have Already Been Solved

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We are all opinionated people, whether we admit it or not. Most of the following arguments have been in a conversation we’ve participated in. Do you think you had the right point of view, or could you be proven wrong? Read the following arguments and the correct answers to learn which is which.

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Getty Images Sport / Michael Regan

Argument: Dogs feel guilty when they do something wrong.

We have all seen it beforeL You have a piece of food on the table, maybe it’s your last piece of your favorite pie, and you walk away for just a second. When you come back, the pie is gone. But your dog’s nose is covered in frosting. You go over to him and before you even say anything, he slouches his shoulders and neck, drops his head, and looks up to you with guilty eyes. You think to yourself, he knows he did wrong and now he feels guilty.

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Getty Images News / Franck Prevel

Well, the truth is that dogs don’t really feel guilt. They are capable of human emotions such as fear, discomfort, and joy, but research hasn’t proven dogs know the complex emotion of guilt.

What you see when you observe a dog’s “guilt” is actually them reading your body language and knowing they are about to be scolded. Dogs remember discipline so they know something is wrong but we can’t say for certain the dog actually feels remorse or guilty about it’s actions.

Argument: Immigrants commit more crimes than the average person

Now we will leave the current political climate out of this and try to stick to facts.

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Getty Images News / Jeff J Mitchell

Theories suggest that illegal immigrants commit more crimes since they tend to move under the radar and can be harder to track and find.

However, those theories can be pretty easily dismissed. An article in The New York Times which lays out the facts pretty clearly: “Analyses of census data from 1980 through 2010 show that among men ages 18 to 49, immigrants were one-half to one-fifth as likely to be incarcerated as those born in the United States.”

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Getty Images News / Spencer Platt

The article goes on to say that only about 7 percent of the nation’s population are non-citizens. The percentage of non-citizens that are in prison is incredibly low as well, around 5 percent. The numbers support the truth—that immigrants are no more involved in criminal activity than citizens—instead of opinion.

Argument: Are GMOs safe or not safe to eat?

We have been eating genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for nearly 30 years, and, as of today, there is no scientific proof that they are unhealthy for us.

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AFP / ROBYN BECK

We can’t be 100 percent certain since it has only been roughly 27 years but as of now, “There’s been no clear evidence that genetically altered foods, which we’ve been eating since the 1990s, can hurt you” says this Today article. The Food and Drug Administration has the same set of rules that apply to both normal and genetically modified plants and organisms; this ensures that any GMO food is safe to eat.

The reason GMOs are so important is because they help us keep up with our ever-growing population. They also enhance the food we eat. The Today article explains that the corn we eat today is by no means the same corn our grandparents were eating. Everything has changed and evolved.

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Getty Images News / Scott Barbour

If you can grow GMO foods with certain health benefits, then that is a good thing, especially in third-world countries where it’s much harder to grow and retain crops without infestation.

Argument: If you touch a baby bird, the mother will abandon it

Everyone was told this growing up and while we are not sure where the rumor started, as children, if we saw a bird’s nest, we knew to stay away for fear of imposing our human smell.

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Getty Images News / Scott Olson

Truth is, birds can’t really smell all that great and even if they could, there is no scientific proof they’d associate the human smell with negativity and therefore abandon their young, as discussed in this mentalfloss article.

If you stumble upon a nest and an egg is on the ground, you should put it back if possible. While the confusion of a previously missing egg being returned or dismantled nest may convince the bird to move elsewhere, it will surely take the eggs with it.

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DPA / HOLGER HOLLEMANN

The only real cause of danger here is if you find a baby bird on the ground that has hatched. If you touch it, you may risk picking up some germs or being harmed, as the mother may be nearby and take you as a threat to her young.

Argument: You should brush your teeth after eating.

This argument came as quite a shock, since most of us have always been told you should brush your teeth right after every meal, but in actuality you should not brush right after eating.

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AFP / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

The best thing to do is floss after you eat and then wait a little until you brush. It should be common knowledge that we are supposed to brush our teeth two to three times a day, but be careful how quickly after a meal you do it.

Riverrun Dental says, “If you can brush once after every meal–breakfast, lunch, and dinner–you minimize the growth of bacteria in your mouth. But wait an hour after each meal: brushing too soon can cause damage to the enamel of your teeth.”

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AFP / GREG WOOD

The reason being, after you eat, plaque bacteria in your mouth will blend with fermentable carbohydrates to produce acid which weakens the tooth enamel and softens the surface. So, if you brush right away you could do more damage than good and make your teeth overly sensitive and prone to cavities.

Argument: Which is better: running on a treadmill or outdoors?

Whether you run on the treadmill or take to the outdoors, both will burn the same amount of calories, pending conditions, but there are a couple of important things to discuss.

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Getty Images Sport / Dan Kitwood

When you run outdoors you experience wind resistance so to achieve the same effect indoors you should set your treadmill to a 1 percent incline.

As for which is better for you, the treadmill can be easier on your feet if you’re running outside on concrete. However there have been studies conducted that prove runners who go outside experience more of a positive effect on their overall well-being: “Exercising in natural environments, particularly in green spaces, was associated with greater feelings of revitalisation and positive engagement, decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression, and increased energy.”

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Getty Images Sport / Pascal Le Segretain

Furthermore, people who exercise outdoors often claim that it is more enjoyable and that they have a better reason to run or jog outside again over the mundaneness of an indoor treadmill.

Argument: Breast milk is better than formula.

This may come as a shock to many but that argument has actually been proven false. For a long time mothers always thought that breastfeeding was the most healthy way to feed their infants, while formula was not necessarily trustworthy and could have some serious side effects.

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AFP / NIKLAS HALLE’N

A scientific researcher and sociologist, Cynthia Colen, came up with a clever design for a new study which looked at 1,773 sibling pairs in which one had been breastfed and the other had not.

She found that when these kids were “between the ages of 4 and 14 years old, there were no statistically significant differences in their BMI, obesity rates, hyperactivity, parental attachment levels, behavioral compliance, or several measures of academic achievement.”

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AFP / ASHRAF SHAZLY

Her study does include benefits of breastfeeding such as a mother-to-child bond, as well as some other factors, but as far as children’s health goes within this particular study, formula is just as good as breastfeeding. It’s true that breastfeeding does come with some other health benefits for mother and child, but at the end of the day, it matters more whether you’re feeding your infant rather than how you’re doing it.

Argument: Is exercising when you have a cold good or bad for you?

If you’re feeling under the weather, exercise may be the last thing you feel like doing. It’s true that when your body’s already under a lot of stress, making it do more work isn’t always a good idea.

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Getty Images News / Christopher Furlong

But in some cases, “light to moderate activity may actually help you feel better,” says Richard Besser, MD, chief health and medical editor at ABC News.

Other doctors have said you should follow what they call the “neck rule”: If your symptoms are above the neck like sneezing, sinus pressure, stuffy nose etc. then breaking a sweat is generally considered safe and will help you exercise out your cold. It will get all the fluids moving and blood pumping.

However, if you have a chest cold or stomach issues, then it is best to rest since you could do further damage by expanding your lungs and passing the virus along.

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