Ever hear about the dihydrogen monoxide hoax? It's been around for a while, but it got a lot of media attention in 1997 when a 14-year-old student named Nathan Zohner circulated a petition to ban the substance as part of a high school science fair. According to Zohner, dihydrogen monoxide "may cause severe burns, accelerates the corrosion and rusting of many metals, and has been found in the excised tumors of terminal cancer patients." Despite these risks, he further noted, the nefarious chemical is often used "as an industrial solvent and coolant, in the production of Styrofoam, and as a fire retardant."

By now some of you have figured out that dihydrogen monoxide is the technical name for H2O, also known as water.

Nathan Zohner's story is a humorous one, but it illustrates an important truth: it's possible for us as human beings to develop a lot of misconceptions—even a dangerous familiarity—about something with which we are intimately connected.