Artistic License Biology: Difference between revisions
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[[File:1038 12.gif|link=Chick Tracts|frame|By what, you might ask? [[Prehistoria|Spear-wielding hunters]], of course!]]
{{quote|''"You don't really '''get''' nature, do you?"''
There are cases where the [[MST3K Mantra]] certainly applies, especially if the entire world of the work of fiction is pretty crazy and, thus, all bets are off in terms of good science. Therefore, most of the examples below are culled from series who were at least trying to be taken seriously (so please keep that in mind before adding an example on this page).
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* [[Nonhumans Lack Attributes]]
* [[No Periods, Period]]
* [[Non-Mammalian Hair]]
* [[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]])
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{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* In an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMoRw8IKcvk H2OH commercial], the narrator voice comments how cool it is that nature gave spikes to the hedgehog, instead of you (human). In the video, though, the guy ''shoots'' spikes all around. It's said that porcupines can shoot their quills—porcupines are not hedgehogs, however, and the popular belief is in fact false. Porcupines may have their spines dislodged while swinging their tails around because the spines are very loosely attached to the porcupine so that they'll come out once they've been lodged in another creature's skin; however, they don't deliberately shoot their quills at a target. They're much more likely to reverse into your leg and fill it with hooked barbs.
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* 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 ...
* A [[Fetish Fuel]]-crossed-with-disturbing ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' fic featured the [[Mary Sue]] sustaining the Fellowship when they ran out of food by ''breastfeeding'' them. Human females do not produce enough milk to feed nine adult males at once. Someone on a badfic-sporking community pointed out that they'd do better to kill and eat her.
** 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.
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**** Of course, it's entirely possible Crichton knew, but bent things ''[[Art Major Biology|on purpose]]''. It's probably a good thing we don't know how to make living dinosaurs. That would be like giving five-year-olds dynamite.
** One more for the road: The Lysine plan. A plan to limit the growth of the dinosaurs by making them dependent on the amino acid Lysine, by taking away their ability to produce it themselves. ''Any'' first-year biochemistry student could tell you that Lysine is an essential amino acid, i.e., most modern-day vertebrates (including crocodiles and sharks; superorders who existed in the Jurassic period) can't produce it either. And we make do without it, because we get Lysine from our gut flora or by eating things containing Lysine (practically anything made from plant matter, or meat from things that have eaten plant matter, or who have eaten things that have eaten things that have eaten plant- oh, you get the point). The Lysine plan is a great way to limit growth of genetically modified bacteria, who depend on Lysine in the media if they can't make it themselves. For vertebrates, who obtains it from eating things anyway, it's not. The book at least acknowledges this as an in-universe whopper by InGen's scientists (who probably slept through their first-year classes), as it turns out it was no hindrance to the Dinosaurs whatsoever.
** A scientist says that all the dinosaurs are female to prevent them from being able to establish a sustainable population if there is an escape and incredulously asks someone asking questions if they expect there to be some flaw in that. ''If'' dinosaurs are capable of reliable [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis parthenogenesis], that is ''absolutely'' possible. There isn't much, if any, data supporting parthenogenesis in dinosaurs (aside from it occasionally occurring in modern day birds, and even then the result is often not viable offspring. That said, male viable turkeys (admittedly of reduced fertility) have been born through parthenogenesis!).
** The scientists imply that sex determination is a hormonal through a sex determining chromosome. While sex determining chromosomes are the decider in some species (such as homo sapiens), they are not the factor in crocodilians and turtles (in which case the sex of offspring is decided by incubation temperature).
* '50s B-movie ''[[The Amazing Colossal Man]]'' has one of the doctors tending to the eponymous rapidly-growing man describe the human heart as "one big cell." As [[Mystery Science Theater 3000|Tom Servo]] says, "You're not a ''real'' doctor, are you?"
* In another '50s B-movie, ''The Alligator People'', a physician uses hydrocortisone injections to induce accident victims to regenerate damaged body parts. While cortisones do reduce inflammation (swelling), and can therefore make injuries ''feel'' better, they actually ''slow down'' the healing process.
* In ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'', Renard has a bullet lodged in his medulla oblongata that is "slowly killing off his senses". [[No One Could Survive That]]! This is credited with removing his sense of touch, despite this not being where the sense of touch is in the brain. The sense of touch is in the parietal lobe (mostly) which is at the top back of the brain. The medulla is at the bottom of the brain. While some have survived with bullets in their brains, such as Kiran Prajapati,
* The African exhibit in ''[[Night at the Museum]]'' includes an ostrich. Ostriches are African, so no problem, right? Except that the exhibit is specifically and prominently titled "The Hall of African '''Mammals'''."
* ''[[Push]]'' has the lead character {{spoiler|inject soy sauce directly in to his blood stream with no side effect at all.}}
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* ''[[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.
* In ''[[Moana]]'' a chicken eats a stone and someone acts as though the chicken mistook it for food and regards the chicken as [[Too Dumb To Live]] (and the movie multiple times later on demonstrates it is indeed [[Too Dumb To Live]]). Lots of birds actually do swallow rocks to digest food (the rocks the swallow crush food the same way you crush food with your teeth). The stone was obviously way too big, but it's not crazy for birds, including chickens, to eat stones/rocks.
== Literature ==
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*** ''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.
** Both [[
* 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}}.
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*** 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]]?
* The Marquis de Sade's [[
* [[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.
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** 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.
* The ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** 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.
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** 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!
** The Mystara setting also has a monster called a thoul, which is a cross between a troll, gnoll, and ghoul. Exactly how two living monsters could be combined with an undead monster to create a living one is something of a mystery; one source suggested it was the result of divine magic through the cult of [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Yeenoghu.]] Even stranger, unlike most hybrids, a thoul is ''not'' sterile, a male and female thoul can mate to produce young thouls, meaning whoever created the first ones created a race onto itself.
** 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.
** Orcs seem to have the most unstable genetic structures of any fantasy race, as a half-orc can have nearly any humanoid race as the non-orc side, the only exception (mentioned in 2nd Edition) being elves. At least with illithids, [[Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong| cerebromorphosis]] only works on humans, elves, halflings, dwarves, and Gith.
** They have ''tried'' it on other races, by the way, [[Freak Lab Accident| results range from messy to catastrophic.]]
== Toys ==
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** 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!
** The wolf mounts, and by extension all wolf mobs [https://web.archive.org/web/20200909150039/http://www.free-wow-guides.com/image-files/world-of-warcraft-mounts-black-wolf.jpg using the worg model]{{Dead link}} run nothing like an actual wolf would run. Wolf mobs using [https://web.archive.org/web/20120514073855/http://www.wowhunterpets.info/images/models/fs_wolfskinblack.jpg the alternative wolf model] run pretty much properly.
** 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...
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{{quote|"Last time I checked, turtles don't walk around facing the sky."}}
* The flash clip ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131019025419/http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/dugong/ Dugong]'' begins with words 'Dugong, dugong it's a cow of the se-e-e-a. Dugong, dugong, also known as the manatee'. The problem is that dugong (''Dugong dugong'') and manatees (genus ''Trichechidae'') are different animals. One may also argue that 'sea cow' (a common name for dugong) is yet another, now extinct animal also known as Steller's Sea Cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas''). Furthermore, the song contains the phrase 'Compared to dolphin, its very close cousin...'. Dugong and dolphins are water mammals, but they belong to different orders (dugong to ''Sirenia'', dolphins to ''Cetacea''). Hardly 'very close cousins'.
* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', during V1 in particular, there were examples of writers who decided to eschew any pretence of realism in their kills. Later versions have done their best to avert this. A particularly...[https://web.archive.org/web/20130607132749/http://z10.invisionfree.com/SurvivalOfTheFittest/index.php?showtopic=425 interesting example.]
* [[Rule of Funny|Played for laughs]] by ''[[Cracked.com]]'': "It's like every single AC/DC album cover came to life and punched your eyeballs right in the dick." Read more: [http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-images-too-badass-to-be-real-that-totally-are/ 7 Images Too Badass To Be Real (That Totally Are)]
* Keith Thompson's [http://www.keiththompsonart.com/pages/ghoul.html Ghoul] seems to depict [[wikipedia:Kuru (disease)|Kuru]] as the complete opposite of what it really is: rather than slowly turning destroying the physical and mental capabilities of its victims as it does in [[Real Life]], Keith Thompson's Kuru [[Our Zombies Are Different|zombifies]] them. However, he has [[Shown His Work]] in that both versions of the disease are transmitted by eating infected corpses.
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** 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]]".
* 1973/74 ''[[Superfriends]]'' episode "The Watermen
* Among the many errors regarding animal physiology and behavior, one the more minor in ''[[Hero: 108]]'' is the Deer King and his men, who neigh, grunt, and whinny like horses even though deer in real life make noises more like they have kazoos stuck in their throats
* The ''[[Teen Titans]]'' episode "Crash" there are three:
** Logically speaking, a being with the ability to change into animals should not be able to assume the form of an amoeba, which is not a member of the Animal Kingdom, and is actually an even less complex organism than plants are. Beast Boy cannot change into plants, so how can he change into something with even ''simpler'' biological structure?
** The white blood cells in Cyborg's body have the distinctive "frisbee" shape of ''red'' blood cells.
** Virus-addled Cyborg rants how there are 456 varieties of yams. Actually, there are about ''600'' varieties of yams.
* In an episode of ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'', Count Vostok is a vampire who claims he avoids preying on humans by subsisting on "artificial blood". There is, in fact, no such thing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_substitute (not yet, at least)] but of course, vampires aren't real either.
== Real Life ==
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** 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.
** And then there's [https://web.archive.org/web/20120728231217/http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/introducing/what_is_thylacine_1.htm thylacine], also known as the Tasmanian wolf and Tasmanian tiger. It's a marsupial, but the niche it filled was a nearly perfect mix of available prey, environmental issues, and so on. The niche was one similar to many canine predators, such as the wolf, so as the species evolved it looked more like canines, leading occasionally to somewhat understandable confusion over classifying it to this day amongst people who only see a skeleton or the like.
* 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.
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[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]
[[Category:Hollywood Science]]
[[Category:Artistic License
[[Category:Biology Tropes]]
[[Category:Tropes On Science and Unscience]]
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