--- title: How would we know? Asking experts and spotting tricks — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «How would we know? Asking experts and spotting tricks», a lesson of the myths course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Some claims you can't test with two seed trays in the kitchen: whether MSG is safe, whether a bridge is sound, whether --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/) / How would we know? Asking experts and… # How would we know? Asking experts and spotting tricks Lesson 30 of the myths course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/0/) — Some claims you can't test with two seed trays in the kitchen: whether MSG is safe, whether a bridge is sound, whether a photo of a giant squid is real. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/1/) — For those you ask the people whose job is checking. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/2/) — The magic question is "How would we know?" If a cat had nine lives, what would we count? - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/3/) — If a study shows red wins, how big was the difference, and did anyone repeat it? - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/4/) — Watch for tricks: an edited photo of a real animal, a selling word like "superfood", or "everybody knows", which sounds like evidence and isn't. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/5/) — But checking isn't the same as doubting everything: the vet's poster about grapes and dogs is TRUE, and an expert in the right field is usually worth trusting. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/6/) — Tricks are made by people who want clicks, sales or a laugh; understanding how they work is how you stop being fooled, never how you fool others. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/7/) — Cats have one life; they are agile (quick and good at balancing) and often survive falls and scrapes, which is where the saying comes from. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/8/) — A real study found that Olympic fighters wearing red won slightly more often, but the difference was small, only in some sports, and other studies argue about it; skill and training matter far more. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/9/) — Giant squid are real deep-sea animals, but photos of them can be edited; a giant squid on a British beach would be reported by real news outlets and museums, and a grown-up can do a reverse image search (asking a search site where else the photo has appeared). - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/10/) — When you cook with alcohol, some of it always stays in the food; long simmering removes most but not all. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/11/) — Large studies found MSG (a powder added to food to make it taste savoury) safe for most people in normal amounts; tomatoes and cheese have natural glutamate too, and old fears about it were partly mixed with unfair attitudes to Chinese food. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/12/) — Macs can get viruses and other harmful software; they are just attacked less often than Windows computers. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/13/) — Old bridges and buildings can weaken over time, so engineers inspect them regularly. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/14/) — "Superfood" is a selling word, not a science word; blueberries are healthy, but no single food cures diseases. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/15/) — "Everybody knows" is not evidence; many things everybody knew, like the Sun going round the Earth, were wrong. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/16/) — Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure in some dogs (kidneys clean the blood), and vets have seen many cases, so dogs should never be given them. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/17/) — Some amazing world records are real and are checked by Guinness World Records; other amazing photos are edited. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/30-how-would-we-know-asking-experts-and-spotting-tricks/18/) — "How would we know?" is a good first question for any claim. - ← previous: [Let's test it! Experiments and fair tests](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/29-let-s-test-it-experiments-and-fair-tests/) - next →: [Friends who cling to a legend](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/31-friends-who-cling-to-a-legend/) - ↑ back to [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/)