Loading...

How can you tell what a writer really wants to say?

Have you ever heard someone say There's more to this story than meets the eye? What they meant was that not everything is as it seems, at first glance. When someone uses this adage, or saying, they're unwilling to assume that the story they've heard is completely true—just because someone else says it is.

As you may have heard from time to time, making assumptions (especially making them too quickly) can cause you to misunderstand what's really going on. It can also lead you to miss out on learning something new and exciting—especially if you assume that you know all there is to know about a topic.

Here are a few fun facts that may go against assumptions you have made. Click each image to learn what facts lie beneath the surface.

Boy eating a large hamburger.

Why are you able to taste your food?

Image captioned below. Use escape key to exit full screen view.

Don't spit it out! Yes, your tongue has taste buds, but your saliva breaks down food into molecules that are small enough to be detected by your taste buds. Without saliva, you wouldn't be able to taste anything.

Brownish lobster with orange and white spots, alive on the sea floor.

What color is lobster blood?

Image captioned below. Use escape key to exit full screen view.

Would you be surprised to learn that it is blue? Lobsters have a blood-like substance that is actually clear, but when it comes in contact with oxygen in the air, it reacts with the copper in their blood and turns blue.

A wildfire burning through forested hills.

Does fire move faster uphill or downhill?

Image captioned below. Use escape key to exit full screen view.

Fire actually moves faster going up a steep hill. The reason is because the terrain that is fueling the fire is closer to the flames when it is climbing uphill at a steep angle.

Question

As these surprising facts show, there is more to the natural world than meets the eye. You just have to do a bit more research to get the full story. Why is it important to dig a little deeper into a text before deciding what it means?