Fighting Assumptions: Podcast

The three-second lie: why your goldfish remembers more than you think

Léon van Berlo — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:26:32 GMT

We’ve all used the excuse. You walk into the kitchen, stare blankly at the open refrigerator, and realise you have absolutely no idea what you came for. “Ugh, I have the memory of a goldfish,” you mutter to yourself.

It’s a universally understood piece of cultural shorthand. We are told, and thus we assume, that the humble goldfish (Carassius auratus) lives in a perpetual loop of instant reset: a serene, blissful existence where every three seconds the universe is born anew.

There’s just one problem: It’s complete nonsense.

Electricity is not water: breaking the 'pipe' analogy

Léon van Berlo — Sat, 02 May 2026 17:35:00 GMT

Imagine you flick a switch and, in a fraction of a second, a lamp across the room hums to life. We’ve all been taught the same “common sense” explanation: the battery or wall outlet pushes electrons through the copper wire like water through a garden hose, and those electrons carry the energy to the bulb.

It is a beautiful, logical, and intuitive model. It’s also almost entirely wrong.

Lightning does strike twice (and thrice, and a million times)

Léon van Berlo — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:13:21 GMT

Today, we are tackling a phrase you’ve probably used to comfort a friend: “Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.”

We use it to reassure people. Survived a freak round of corporate layoffs? Don’t worry, lightning never strikes twice. Dealt with a bizarre plumbing disaster? Relax, lightning never strikes twice. It is a linguistic pat on the back, implying that the universe operates on a strict quota system for bad luck. Once you’ve paid your dues to statistical improbability, you are safe.

It is a lovely sentiment. But as a scientific rule of thumb? It is dangerously, objectively wrong. In fact, lightning loves to strike twice. And three times. And sometimes a hundred times.

It’s time to retire this assumption.

The election deception: why the founders of democracy used a lottery instead

Léon van Berlo — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:31:42 GMT

We have been conditioned to believe that the “ballot box” is the ultimate symbol of freedom. We are taught that the right to vote is the finish line of democratic progress.

But if you could transport an ancient Athenian, the very people who invented demokratia, to a modern polling station, they wouldn’t congratulate us on our “freedom.”

To the Greeks, the root of democracy wasn’t the vote. It was the lottery.

Why Chameleons are “terrible” at camouflage

Léon van Berlo — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 07:22:32 GMT

We’ve all seen the cartoon: a sleek, bug-eyed chameleon strolls across a checkerboard and poof it’s covered in black and white squares. It’s the ultimate metaphor for adaptability. We use the word “chameleon” to describe politicians who shift their views to fit the room or socialites who blend into any crowd.

There is just one problem: The premise is almost entirely false.

The fat-burning zone is a lie (and other uncomfortable truths about cardio)

Léon van Berlo — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 06:31:39 GMT

You’ve seen the chart: a friendly graph showing a “Fat Burning Zone” at a low, conversational heart rate, and a “Cardio/Performance Zone” at higher intensities. The assumption we’ve been fed is simple: if you want to lose fat, stay in the slow lane. If you want to get fit, speed up.

Let’s fight some assumptions…

Why the egg definitely came first

Léon van Berlo — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 13:45:42 GMT

It’s the undisputed champion of circular reasoning, the ultimate rhetorical question used to describe a situation where it’s impossible to tell what caused what: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Science actually has a definitive, undisputed answer to this question. The assumption that this is an unresolvable paradox is false. From a biological and evolutionary standpoint, the egg came first. Period.

The "blind as a bat" lie: how science accidentally erased an animal's eyesight

Léon van Berlo — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 09:59:39 GMT

We picture bats as creatures of the pitch-black night, relying entirely on biological sonar to frantically navigate the skies while their useless, unseeing eyes go along for the ride.

But there’s a massive problem with this assumption: Every single bat species in the world has eyes, and none of them are blind.

The greatest trick ever pulled: why the Trojan horse never actually existed

Léon van Berlo — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 19:58:00 GMT

We all know the story of the giant wooden horse. But the archaeological and historical realities of the Trojan War point to a very different kind of destruction.

Sorry, but astronauts cannot see the Great Wall of China

Léon van Berlo — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 13:20:42 GMT

“The Great Wall of China is the only human-made object visible from space”. It is etched into our collective consciousness. It appears in travel brochures, old textbooks, and pop culture. It is a testament to human engineering and the sheer scale of ancient empires.

There is just one tiny problem: It is completely not true.

The flat earth fallacy: why Columbus wasn’t the hero you think he was

Léon van Berlo — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 16:29:57 GMT

We’ve all heard the story. It’s 1492. Christopher Columbus stands before a panel of grim-faced Spanish inquisitors and skeptical “experts.” They point at his maps and scoff, warning him that if he sails too far west, his ships will tumble off the edge of the world into a void of sea monsters. Columbus, the brave visionary of the Enlightenment, insists the world is round.

It’s a great story. It’s also complete historical fiction.

The dinosaur in your dinner

Léon van Berlo — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 10:50:04 GMT

We’ve all been sold a story. It’s a story reinforced by every museum diorama, every plastic toy in a sandbox, and every Jurassic Park sequel.

The story goes like this: 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid the size of a city slammed into the Earth. A tragic, abrupt end to the Age of Reptiles, making way for the Age of Mammals.

It’s a great story. It’s dramatic. It’s tidy. It’s also fundamentally, scientifically false.

Van Gogh: the “starving artist” who actually sold many paintings

Léon van Berlo — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:27:33 GMT

We think of Vincent van Gogh as a ‘unappreciated genius’ who only got recognition after his death. During his life he only sold a few paintings. The truth? He spent years dominating art sales.

The $50 Million myth: Why Blockbuster was right to reject Netflix

Léon van Berlo — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 19:38:22 GMT

We all know the story of Blockbuster laughing Netflix out of the room. It’s business folklore. It’s also an incomplete narrative that hides a much darker, more complex tragedy about corporate sabotage and the high cost of short-term thinking.

The great lemming lie: how Disney faked nature’s most famous suicide

Léon van Berlo — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:06:15 GMT

We use “lemming” as a metaphor for mindless conformity, based on the belief that these rodents commit mass suicide off cliffs. The only problem? The entire phenomenon was staged by cinematographers in the 1950s.

Read the full story…