Setting: A sunny afternoon in São Paulo, Brazil. Two friends, Lucas (the rational thinker) and João (the superstitious one), are sitting on Lucas’s balcony sipping juice and chatting.
João: (looking suspiciously at Lucas’s glass)
Wait… is that mango smoothie?
Lucas: Yeah! Fresh mango, milk, a bit of honey—why?
João: (gasps) Lucas, are you trying to kill yourself? Manga com leite? Are you insane?
Lucas: (laughing) João, you sound like my grandma. She used to say that too. But come on, I’ve been drinking mango smoothies since college. Still alive, still handsome.
João: That’s not funny, cara! My tia Lourdes swore someone in her village died after eating mango and milk together. They say it’s poisonous!
Lucas: João, maybe they died of something else. Like a bad shrimp or expired feijoada. Correlation isn’t causation, my friend.
João: Don’t get all science-y on me. This is Brazil. We respect tradition.
Lucas: Tradition is great… except when it stops you from enjoying delicious mango smoothies. Seriously, where do you think this idea came from?
João: (confidently) From the ancestors. They knew things. They watched nature, listened to spirits. My vó said even the dogs avoided mango and milk.
Lucas: (smirking) Maybe the dogs just preferred steak. Look, I read that this myth started during colonial times—when enslavers told slaves not to mix milk and mango because mango was abundant and milk was expensive. It was a control tactic to stop them from “wasting” milk.
João: That sounds like a conspiracy theory.
Lucas: So does dying from mango and milk! João, think about India. Mango lassi is a national drink there. Mango + yogurt, which is also dairy. Millions drink it every day. No mass casualties reported.
João: Hmm… but yogurt is not milk. Maybe the bacteria fight off the poison?
Lucas: (laughs) João, now you’re inventing yogurt superheroes. Okay, okay, what if we do an experiment?
João: What kind of experiment?
Lucas: You and me. Tomorrow. I’ll make mango milkshake for both of us. We drink it. If we both survive, you drop the superstition. If not… well, I guess we haunt your tia Lourdes together.
João: (nervous) I don’t know… I have plans this weekend. What if it ruins my stomach?
Lucas: Then we’ll use lactose-free milk, princess. Or oat milk. No excuses.
João: (pauses) What if we mix it, but just don’t drink it? Like, we acknowledge the science but also respect the spirits?
Lucas: So you’re proposing a peace treaty between logic and folklore?
João: Exactly. Brazil style.
Lucas: Deal. But I’m still making you drink the smoothie someday. I’ll even add cinnamon and call it a detox potion.
João: Okay, but if I die, I’m haunting your blender.
Lucas: Fair enough. But admit it—you’re curious now.
João: Maybe… just a little. But if I see a dog running away, I’m out.
Lucas: Deal. But next time you quote your vó, I’m bringing peer-reviewed studies.
João: You’re lucky I love you, nerd.
Lucas: Love you too, superstitious grandpa.
[They clink their glasses and laugh, the sun setting over the city as science and superstition share a balcony in peace.]
Science Vs Superstition 
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