https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/myth-busting/RSS feed for Myth BustingenMon, 23 Mar 2026 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/popular-lore-claims-that-william-howard-taft-got-stuck-in-a-bathtub-new-research-sheds-light-on-the-legends-forgotten-origins-180988386/A long-overlooked 1929 account contains the earliest known reference to the anecdote, suggesting that the 27th president found himself trapped in a tub during a Mississippi River voyageMon, 23 Mar 2026 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/popular-lore-claims-that-william-howard-taft-got-stuck-in-a-bathtub-new-research-sheds-light-on-the-legends-forgotten-origins-180988386/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-a-deep-sea-oarfish-caught-alive-on-video-in-a-rare-encounter-on-a-beach-in-mexico-180986100/In Japanese folklore, appearances of these elusive marine creatures dubbed ‘doomsday fish’ are believed to foreshadow earthquakes, though scientists found no strong relationship between these events in a recent studyFri, 21 Feb 2025 20:41:49 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-a-deep-sea-oarfish-caught-alive-on-video-in-a-rare-encounter-on-a-beach-in-mexico-180986100/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/baseball-official-historian-dug-up-games-unknown-origins-180983981/A lifelong passion for the national pastime led John Thorn to redefine the sport's relationship with statistics and reveal the truth behind its earliest daysThu, 28 Mar 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/baseball-official-historian-dug-up-games-unknown-origins-180983981/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-to-separate-fact-from-myth-in-the-extraordinary-story-of-sojourner-truth-180983820/Two historians tell us why the pioneering 19th-century feminist, suffragist and abolitionist’s legacy has so frequently been misrepresentedThu, 22 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-to-separate-fact-from-myth-in-the-extraordinary-story-of-sojourner-truth-180983820/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-many-myths-of-the-boston-tea-party-180983399/Contrary to popular belief, the 1773 protest opposed a tax break, not a tax hike. And it didn't immediately unify the colonies against the BritishFri, 15 Dec 2023 12:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-many-myths-of-the-boston-tea-party-180983399/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/decades-long-struggle-figure-out-whether-aspartame-bad-you-180961880/As groups within the World Health Organization are reviewing the artificial sweetner’s potential to cause cancer, take a look back at a hoax from the '90sFri, 27 Jan 2017 14:45:44 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/decades-long-struggle-figure-out-whether-aspartame-bad-you-180961880/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-myth-of-agent-355-the-woman-spy-who-supposedly-helped-win-the-revolutionary-war-180979748/A single reference in the historical record has spawned an array of adaptations, most of which overstate the anonymous figure's role in the Culper Spy RingMon, 21 Mar 2022 10:30:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-myth-of-agent-355-the-woman-spy-who-supposedly-helped-win-the-revolutionary-war-180979748/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/many-myths-term-anglo-saxon-180978169/Two medieval scholars tackle the misuse of a phrase that was rarely used by its supposed namesakesWed, 14 Jul 2021 17:10:34 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/many-myths-term-anglo-saxon-180978169/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/enduring-myths-raiders-lost-ark-180977923/Forty years later, archaeologists look back at what the first Indiana Jones movie got wrong about their professionTue, 08 Jun 2021 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/enduring-myths-raiders-lost-ark-180977923/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/just-how-bad-was-nero-really-180977813/A new exhibition at the British Museum introduces visitors to the man behind the mythical Roman rulerTue, 25 May 2021 17:24:58 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/just-how-bad-was-nero-really-180977813/