Burning Chrome, Debunked!
Remember heating element that released more energy than it used? As with all things, reality has a habit of shooting down preposterous claims. The Miracle Heater has been debunked:
Using the apparatus provided, it’s true, this scientist could get incredible results: the meters would read zero, and yet water would boil in around five minutes. Because the meters provided weren’t working. (Emphasis mine)
That fact doesn't bother me. Not at all. It sometimes does take time to validate or substantiate claims. No biggie.
Ah, but has anyone heard about this new finding of No Miracle Here? Not as far as I know. When the claim was made, news traveled fast. They even interviewed the inventor on the BBC!
The news that this was really not newsworthy has hardly caught fire. Let this be a lesson: People want outrageous news. Outrageous claims move quickly. Corrections get buried.
The problem becomes acute when, sitting around shooting the shit with folks, someone dredges evidence of some outlandish claim that made the rounds, a claim thoroughly debunked but persistent because everyone wants the claim to be true. You sit there, knowing the claim to be too zany to be true, but can do nothing. You have not gotten the memo, and sit there shrugging your shoulders.
The outrageous claim therefore stands as unchallenged, and spreads to infect other minds. Diseased memes spread. It's amazing so many have resisted inoculation.
Homework Assignment
Everyone notices instances of this spread. Even you, I think. In the comments, give me a claim you feel was overhyped and accepted by many, only to be quietly debunked later in ways that drew no attention to the correction, and to this day no one even remembers the corrections.