Dihydrogen Monoxide Fiasco: Are We Really That Gullible?

On April 26, 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old kid at Eagle Rock Junior High, totally rocked the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair with his project "How Gullible Are We?"

And trust me, it was pure genius.

Nate's grand mission was to drop some knowledge bombs on folks about a deadly chemical.

He handed out 50 of his fellow students a report called “Dihydrogen Monoxide: The Unrecognized Killer”.

The report listed all the freaky things about this chemical — DHMO for short.

It's colourless, odourless, and tasteless, lurking in every river, lake, and reservoir across America.

It has been linked to thousands of deaths each year.

Accidentally swallow this thing and get ready for a rollercoaster ride of bloating, excessive urination, and sweating.

It's the main culprit behind acid rain, causing erosion all over the place and it's been found in cancer patients' tumours.

Seriously, this stuff is no bueno.

In gaseous form, it's a burn machine.

Metal corroder and fire starter — DHMO does it all.

It might cause electrical failures, and even mess up your car brakes.

For anyone dependent on DHMO, cutting it out completely can be deadly.

Nate breaks it down even further.

DHMO is used as an industrial solvent, coolant, and even in nuclear power plants.

It's mixed up in the production of Styrofoam, used as a fire retardant, and gets sprinkled in pesticides.

Oh, and let's not forget, it sneaks its way into some of our beloved junk foods.

Now here's where it gets wild.

Armed with this, Nate goes and asks his classmates to vote on what action they think we should take about DHMO.

43 of his 50 classmates - a staggering 86% - voted to ban DHMO from school grounds.

Back in 1997, no one had a smartphone.

They did, however, go to chemistry class.

Nathan’s classmates even had parents working in that field.

They could’ve asked their teacher: “What’s dihydrogen monoxide?”

But none of them did.

Which is a shame, because they could’ve checked out the backstory of its full name: dihydrogen monoxide.

‘Di’ means two – so that’s two atoms of hydrogen, ‘mono’ means one – so that’s one atom of oxygen.

Two atoms of hydrogen to one atom of oxygen.

DHMO isn’t some evil chemical.

It's just good old water.

Yeah, the very thing that keeps us alive and kickin'.

His classmates had voted to ban water.

This whole experiment of Nathan's is mind-blowing.

These were science students, people who knew their stuff.

Yet, they got swayed by simple facts and ended up wanting to ban the one thing we need to survive on this planet.

Hold up a sec, rewind.

Remember the title of his paper was “How Gullible Are We?”

In his final report, Nate wrote he was shocked that so many of his friends were so easily fooled.

“I don’t feel comfortable with the current level of understanding,” he said.

Now, fast forward to today.

We got smartphones in our pockets, access to all the knowledge in the world, yet we still fall for the same old tricks.

People lie, miscommunicate, and it's tough to read others' true feelings.

But here's the thing.

When it comes to facts, you got no excuses.

Say “I don’t know” when you don’t know.

I know it’s hard, but it’s the most liberating phrase in the world.

Whenever you’re out of your comfort zone, say: “Actually, I don’t know, let me look it up.”

Boom.

Now, you're on your way to becoming an enlightened guru.

Fact-checking, learning, and educating yourself can be done in just a few minutes or even seconds.

Thank you, Mr Google, for having all the answers.

Choosing to stay ignorant is a conscious decision, that's on you, and trust me, you'll pay the price sooner than later.

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