Artistic License Biology: Difference between revisions

* [[Nonhumans Lack Attributes]]

* [[No Periods, Period]]

* [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]]

* [[Nuclear Nasty]] (Note, this only applies for the earlier un-ironic examples where they actually thought radiation worked that way instead of the [[Art Major Biology|later ones]] where it was done for sheer [[Rule of Cool]])

* Everything about ''[[Chocobo Nights]]''. Not least the fact that, to quote the Ficbitches' review, "TIFA JUST GAVE BIRTH TO A FUCKING CHOCOBO."

* There exists a fanfic whose author was under the impression that being intravenously injected with deadly nightshade would instantly heal a gunshot wound. Way to misinterpret herbal medicine ...

** Not to mention the fact that, even if the [[Mary Sue]] could produce enough milk, human breast-milk has very little nutritional value to a human older than, say, 8 years old (this being the absolute upper limit).

* Similarly to the above, [[Celebrian]] features the title character learning to [[Squick|subsist entirely on semen]]. Then again, maybe orc semen has a higher vitamin content than that of humans.

* ''[[Predator]]''. After being killed the scorpion cools down, even though it's cold blooded and should have already been at the same temperature as the surrounding air.

* ''[[The Waterboy]]'': [[Adam Sandler|Bobby Boucher]] tackles his biology professor over the fact that alligators get ornery because of their enlarged medulla oblongata, leading to more aggressive emotions, instead of [[My Beloved Smother|Mama Boucher]]'s explanation that "they got all them teeth and no toothbrush". They're both wrong, because the medulla oblongata has absolutely nothing to do with emotions, being responsible for breathing and heart rate. The amygdala is responsible for emotions.

 

== Literature ==

*** ''That we know of''. It's entirely possible that the only half-bloods we're shown in the series are the ones born to a heterozygous muggle parent and a wizard. It may be that the ones with a homozygous muggle parent are simply never mentioned.

**** There is a canon example of a wizard descended from a muggle and a ''squib''. In fact, that wizard was the second-most powerful wizard in the world—Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort.

* In the ''[[Replica]]'' series of YA novels, the bad guys repeatedly try to get hold of Amy's super-DNA by ''cutting her hair and fingernails''. The installment where her DNA reverted to "normal" after getting her ears pierced ... wait, what?

* In ''[[The Stand]]'', the explanations given for the operation of the superflu virus are sketchy at best, and it seems highly unlikely that the disease would have resulted in such massive destruction. (Among other things, a plague is deadliest if it has a ''long'' incubation period, giving it maximum lead time in which to spread before the victim becomes too sick to move around.) Still, there aren't any obvious screw ups... until the end. {{spoiler|Up until this point, the superflu had been a binary proposition: Either you got it and died, or you didn't get it. At the end, however, a baby born to one immune and one non-immune parent gets the superflu and then recovers; which leads the thoughtful reader to ask, what the hell happened to the children of immune and non-immune parents born before the flu? As a bonus, the explanation given for how the baby recovered is a load of crap}}.

*** Bella sees rainbows around each source of light. We humans can experience the same using micro prism films, those glasses that make every light have a little image over them, or going around with the new 3D movie glasses. The only difference is that the glasses/prism film have a warning not to operate any machinery, drive, or go into direct sunlight wearing the glasses. Should her vampires be allowed to drive cars at that speed?

*** You think that would [[Shmuck Bait|actually]] [[Too Dumb to Live|stop them]]?

* [[Michael Crichton]]'s novel ''[[Sphere]]'' has quite a few. The squid might get a pass for being an alien manifestation, although the biologist should know better than to believe that a normal squid could tear a metal structure to pieces. More flagrantly and not given a pass by the [[Rule of Cool]], same biologist sees a seasnake and finds it perfectly normal to see one 1,000 ft down in near total darkness, AND makes a completely ludicrous evolutionary argument that marine organisms have more potent venoms because it's had longer to evolve (implying that land life arose separately rather than as an extension of marine life?). The whole discussion can be eliminated from the book with no negative impact yet it stands as a short [[Author Tract]].

* In ''[[The Sword of Truth]]'' Richard rips out his evil half-brother Drefan's spine with his [[Super Strength|bare hands]]. Drefan proceeds to keep fighting. There's some attempt to justify this by explaining he knows a (''non-magical'') technique that he used to stop the blood loss, but that doesn't do much to address the fact that it is now ''physically impossible'' for him to control his legs.

** Given that humanity is still evolving, every generation is a new stage. Sheldon's only mistake is that he overexaggerates his own significance in the process.

** He is missing the point of natural selection. Because of his psychological quirks and self-centerness, his fitness level currently appears to be very low (moreover he has a very low interest in finding a mate in the first place, much less conceiving and raising a child). Unless his attitude changes completely, he is going to be naturally selected against, and not pass on his genes. Evolution favors those who have multiple children, of course.

** In season 2, episode 13, the supposed genius Dr. Baltar heals president Roslin's cancer by injecting her with some cylon/human hybrid blood that is more resistant to diseases because it has no antigens (which means it has bloodtype O) and therefore it has no blood type. Therefore it is somehow capable of destroying a cancer in a very late stage. Furthermore, cancer cells (or any other animal cell type) aren't cultivated in a petri dish and on agar, as it is shown on the pictures Dr. Baltar has, but are instead cultivated in cultivation flasks in a fluid.

* On Discovery Channel's ''I Shouldn't Be Alive'', the narrator explain the effects of hypothermia on human cells, using the term "cell walls", in one episode (and is sure they have used it other times). Animals do not have cell walls (in fact, Animalia is the only kingdom where they are totally absent). Yes, they probably just don't want to explain what a cell membrane is/[[Viewers are Morons|assume the audience won't understand the explanation]], so they use a term the audience will know. Considering Discovery's association with fact and science, it seems like they would be willing to spend an extra ten seconds quickly explaining what it is.

** For example, all human/tiefling descendants are tieflings. Forever. Nobody ever finds a tiefling hiding unknown in their family tree; oh no, if your great-grandfather is a tiefling so is everyone descended from him. Apparently when devils are involved, Mendel's laws are more like suggestions. Depending on the sourcebook, some tried to correct it to "half-demon for a few generations, tiefling for a few generations, human eligible for Demon Bloodline feats", judging by the various sourcebooks on the subject (and depending on who you mate with). As of 4th edition, thought, tieflings are back to having supernaturally [[In the Blood|tainted blood]], rather than a genetic condition; the first tieflings were the result of normal humans undergoing an infernal ritual, rather than interbreeding with demons.

** Some D&D examples of this trope don't even have [[A Wizard Did It]] as an excuse. One of the Mystara setting's supplements featured a former underground empire of gnomes, now abandoned and infested with kobolds, various dungeon vermin, and wild herds of fungus-grazing ''mules''. The mules were supposedly the feral descendents of the gnomes' mule beasts of burden. While female mules may not be [[Conviction by Counterfactual Clue|100% sterile]], fertile ''males'' are so rare that the only evidence of such creatures is anecdotal, making a wild population of mules virtually impossible even on the surface, never mind underground!

** Many factual details about some animals are intentionally left out for the sake of game balance and simplicity. No one would want a nearly blind hedgehog familiar or a lion animal companion sleeping over 15 hours a day.

 

== Toys ==

** The devs don't know how horses run (the game animates them the same way as a cheetah, with legs outstretched in the suspension phase instead of collected). But is it a big enough deal for the devs to correct it? [[Bellisario's Maxim|Not really]].

** Elekk (a pseudo elephant mount) freakin' ''gallop''. Come to think of it, so do the mammoths. Knee joints of adamantium!

** Orcas apparently produce humpback whale song. When fighting, no less.

* ''[[StarCraft]]''. For a series that goes to great length to explain how everything works, the powered marine armour really shouldn't require multiple shoulder dislocations...

** REGULAR Cucumbers aren't technically vegetables, even.

* Combine that with [[Artistic License History]]: In [[Rankin/Bass Productions]]' ''The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town'', one music segment has the [[Everything's Better with Chickens|chickens]] tell a story [[Non Sequitur Scene|in a song]] that makes fun of the riddle of "chicken or the egg": They explain that "the chicken came first" by retelling [[The Bible]] story of [[The Great Flood|Noah's Ark]], and comparing the riddle to who came first: "[[Mother Goose|the pussycat or the fiddle]]", "the [[wikipedia:Fountain of Youth|Fountain]] or [[wikipedia:Juan Ponce de León|Ponce de León]]", and "[[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|the cow or]] [[wikipedia:Catherine O'Leary|Mrs. O'Leary]]".

 

== Real Life ==

** There's an annoying tendency to cite the koala as an example because it's a marsupial that looks a bit like a bear. But appearance is the ''only'' bear-like thing about a koala: it diet, habitat preferences, life cycle and behavior are totally different from bears'. Convergent evolution happens when two species show similar traits because they've been subject to similar selective pressures over time, and have independently hit upon the same solutions. If anything, a koala shows convergence with ''sloths'', not bears.

** There's also insect wings and bird wings. While both are structures used to allow organisms to fit a specific ecological niche (the air, opportunities afforded by flying rather than walking/swimming), the two structures are derived from two ''completely'' different origins and developed in compeltely different pathways. Bird wings are modified forelimbs, whereas insect wings are thought to be modified ''gill structures'', believe it or not.

* According to legend, one night the students of [[wikipedia:Baron Cuvier|Baron Cuvier]] (one of the founders of modern paleontology and comparative anatomy) decided to play a trick on their instructor. They fashioned a medley of skins, skulls and other animal parts (including the head and legs of a deer) into a credibly monstrous costume. One brave fellow then donned the chimeric assemblage, crept into the Baron's bedroom when he was asleep and growled "Cuvier, wake up! I am going to eat you!" Cuvier woke up, took one look at the deer parts that formed part of the costume and sniffed "Impossible! You have horns and hooves (and are therefore not not a predator.)" The prank is more commonly reported as: "Cuvier, wake up! I am the Devil! I am going to eat you!" His response was "Divided hoof; graminivorous! It cannot be done." Apparently Satan is vegan.

* Minor but pertinent: anyone who tells you that the tear duct is the source of tears, or that tears are what happen when you cry is wrong and didn't pay attention in biology class. Tears are the fluid that keeps your eyes moist, which come from the tear ''gland'', which is situated above the eye; the tear duct drains them away to keep them under control, since they flow constantly instead of waiting for your eyeballs to dry out. There is research that suggests that psychic (crying) tears have a different composition than reflex (irritation) tears and may be involved in chemical signaling, though not much research has been done in this area.

[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]

[[Category:Hollywood Science]]

[[Category:Biology Tropes]]

[[Category:Tropes On Science and Unscience]]