[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Control}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/810502513_1280x720.jpeg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Stand back! Iz goin to do science.]]

->''"The cosmos is full beyond measure of elegant truths; of exquisite interrelationships; of the awesome machinery of nature."''
-->-- '''Creator/CarlSagan'''

Tropes on how science gets portrayed, represented or misrepresented in fiction.

In this context, "unscience" includes pseudoscience, misrepresentations of actual science and science that's not real or [[TheSparkOfGenius not really scientific]]. It does not include things that are not meant as science, such as regular magic. Nor does it include tropes about things that are unscientific, unless their being unscientific is part of the point or premise. Note that the tropes are not sorted by this divider. The overlap is too big, and often varies from setting to setting ''within'' the same trope.

See also: FuturisticTechIndex, IndexedAndNerdy, MakeMyIndexLive, MathTropes, PhilosophyTropes, PsychologyTropes, and RobotRollCall.
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[[index]]

!!Character Tropes
[floatboxright:
'''Also see:'''
* UsefulNotes/ScientistsAndInventors (real-life)

'''Subcategory:'''
* MakeMyIndexLive
]
* AbsentMindedProfessor: A flighty, forgetful but competent scientist.
* ClandestineChemist: A student of chemical sciences who uses their knowledge for shady purposes.
* DoctorVonTurncoat: A scientist switches sides in a conflict and avoids punishment because their expertise is considered too valuable.
* EmperorScientist: A scientist becomes TheEmperor.
* EvilutionaryBiologist: An evil scientist who believes humans need to evolve more and it's up to them to make it happen.
* GodOfKnowledge: A god who represents knowledge, learning, or wisdom, including science and technology.
* HornyScientist: A scientist has a crush on the lead female character.
* KidnappedScientist: The bad guys kidnap and enslave a scientist.
* MadScientist: A screwy, evil scientist.
* MakerOfMonsters: A scientist or other researcher who uses their knowledge to make monsters.
* MisfitLabRat: Alternative subculture-types or nonconformists who have jobs in science or technology.
* MotherlyScientist: A scientist who feels sympathy for the test subject/s.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: A scientist who's an expert on ''all'' the sciences.
* TheProfessor: A heroic genius who is part of an ensemble.
* ProfessorGuineaPig: A scientist doing experiments on themselves.
* ProudScholarRace: A culture of scientists, scholars and philosophers.
* ReluctantMadScientist: A scientist who works for the villain but doesn't want to or something they invented gets used for evil but they didn't want that.
* RichGenius: Someone who gets rich off of their inventions and/or experiments.
* ScienceFoils: Two scientists who act as {{foil}}s to each other.
* ScienceHero: Somebody who uses science to save the day.
* ScienceHerosBabeAssistant: A scientist's comely assistant, who doesn't do much science.
* SoleSurvivingScientist: Most people have died/turned into zombies/whatever, but one scientist is unaffected and trying to solve the problem.
* ScienceWizard: This is a scientist who is also trained in the mystic arts.
* StupidScientist: A character who's meant to be a genius but believes that if something is highly unlikely, that means it is definitely false. This character ''will'' be proven wrong.
* TheWormGuy: A scientist in a specialized field of study is consulted on a subject foreign to them, but in which their knowledge is relevant.

!!Other Tropes
* AbandonedLaboratory: A spooky abandoned science lab.
* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Some aspect of a work is unrealistic, but the viewers don't mind.
* AccidentalDiscovery: A scientist (or their assistant) makes a mistake that leads to a discovery.
* AlchemyIsMagic: People can use alchemy to do things that should only be able to be done by magic.
* AllTheoriesAreTrue: All scientific theories (even ones that have been debunked) turn out to be true in a sci-fi work.
* AnimalTesting: Testing medicine on animals.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Something happens that goes against real-life biology.
* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: An unrealistic, made-up element.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The laws of physics don't work normally.
* BinomiumRidiculus: Naming a new species? Just take a word and add a Latin or Greek ending!
* BreakTheScientist: When a scientist sees something that shouldn't be scientifically possible happen, they freak out.
* CopAndScientist: Cop is StreetSmart and BookDumb; scientist has next-to-NoSocialSkills or fighting skills.
* CreatingLife: Somebody makes a living being (without conceiving the being normally).
* CreatingLifeIsAwesome: Someone artificially creates a being that is good and is treated as such.
* CreatingLifeIsBad: Creating life is seen as inadvisable or wrong.
* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: Accidentally creating life.
* DoingInTheScientist: An aspect in the work that was originally explained as being through real-world science is {{Retcon}}ned into being magic.
* DoingInTheWizard: Replacing a magic thing with a similar, more mundane thing.
* EarthIsYoung: The work is set on Earth in the twentieth or twenty-first century or possibly slightly later, but Earth is portrayed as being only thousands of years old, not billions as it really is.
* EerieArcticResearchStation: A remote lab in an icy cold location as a tension-filled setting.
* EnigmaticInstitute: A scientific group that conducts research and experiments in secret.
* EscapedFromTheLab: A character who escapes from a laboratory as part of their story or backstory.
* EvilLuddite: The baddies are convinced that science/new technology is bad.
* FantasticScience: Someone who studies the fantastical elements of a work (e.g., a biologist who studies dragons).
* FictionalFieldOfScience: A made-up branch of science.
* FictionScience: RealLife science is used to examine fictional works.
* ForScience: Someone does science just for kicks.
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Weird story aspects are explained as being the result of genetic engineering.
* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: Scientists have flasks and beakers everywhere.
* GravityIsOnlyATheory: Somebody rejects the theory of gravity or at least acts like it might not be true.
* HardOnSoftScience: Social sciences are not considered "real science".
* HereComesTheScience: A commercial that features a pseudoscience monologue about the product.
* HollywoodScience: A dramatic moment in a work that defies the laws of physics and was ''not'' intentional.
* HowUnscientific: Something scientifically impossible or highly unlikely happens in an otherwise-realistic work.
* ImprobableTaxonomySkills: The ability to fully classify an organism with just a cursory examination.
* JarOfTheBizarre: The habit of storing curios, specimens, and old experiments in jars and bottles of preserving fluid.
* JustThinkOfThePotential: A character encounters a new, esoteric technology and realizes all the potential applications (military, monetary, etc.) it could be put to.
* KidnappedForExperimentation: A character is abducted to be a scientific test subject.
* LabcoatOfScienceAndMedicine: Scientists and medical doctors wear lab coats all the time.
* LabPet: A scientist who does experiments on their pet.
* LegoGenetics: Fooling around with DNA can give people superpowers.
* MadScienceFair: A science fair where the scientists are showing off all sorts of bizarre experiments.
* MagicVersusScience: Magic is scientifically impossible but exists anyway, scientists and magic-doers hate each other, or magic is otherwise in conflict with "science".
* MiraculousMalfunction: An experiment doesn't work as intended but creates even better results.
* MotherNatureFatherScience: Science -- especially "hard" science" -- is portrayed as a male domain.
* MinovskyPhysics: A fictional subatomic particle, element or whatever that has rules on what it can and can't do.
* NaturalElements: While once the dominant hypothesis as to what the base elements of all matter in the world is made of, the idea that the forces of nature are elements has long been since disproven, though this idea shows up in works still, albeit leaning more towards the fantastical and magical.
* NoControlGroup: Scientists in fiction don't use control groups.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: An evil device is one-of-a-kind.
* NoTechButHighTech: What counts as technology? A computer, a smartphone, a normal phone, a candle, a catapult... most people would draw the (arbitrary) line at the candle.
* OurDarkMatterIsMysterious: A mysterious substance called "dark matter".
* ParodyOfEvolution: Evolution is spoofed.
* RaisedInALab: A person is raised as an experiment in a lab.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Someone can do something amazing with technology (cure a disease, help the environment, etc) but they don't.
* ResearchInc: A company that does research for profit.
* RetroUpgrade: Something that used to be obsolete but isn't.
* RivalScienceTeams: Two groups of scientists that are against one another.
* SabotageToDiscredit: A plot revolving around a character sabotaging a piece of technology to give it a bad rap.
* SafelySecludedScienceCenter: A scientific facility hidden in an isolated setting for safety and secrecy.
* ScaleOfScientificSins: Rules about what not to do while doing experiments.
* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum: The writers make something seem especially interesting by stating that science cannot explain it.
* ScienceDestroysMagic: When science progresses, magic goes away.
* ScienceFair: An event where children showcase their science projects.
* ScienceIsBad: Science is portrayed as immoral.
* ScienceIsGood: Science is portrayed as a source of good.
* ScienceIsUseless: Hard work is seen as better than science/technology.
* ScienceIsWrong: All science is incorrect.
* ScienceMarchesOn: A trivia page for when a work is no longer realistic/relevant due to progression of science in RealLife.
* ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder: A made-up psychological disorder that makes you both smart and insane.
* {{Scienceville}}: A place is best known for producing scientists and other thinkers.
* ScientificAndTechnologicalThemeNaming: Characters or items named after themes or concepts from science and engineering.
* ScientistVideoJournal: A scientist keeps a video journal to document their progress.
* ScientistVsSoldier: A scientist and a military person are at odds with one another.
* TheSingularity: A theoretical point in technological development beyond which things are incomprehensible to people who came before.
* SodaCandySplosion: A basic science experiment involving mixing Diet Coke and Mentos to create an eruptive soda geyser, which is often exaggerated in fiction for [[RuleOfFunny comedy]].
* SoundsOfScience: Scientists talk in a particular way.
* SovietSuperscience: The Soviet Union is way too technologically advanced to be realistic.
* TheSparkOfGenius: A scientist can do anything.
* TaxonomicTermConfusion: Words related to taxonomy (the study of classifying living things) get confused with one another or used incorrectly.
* TechnicolorScience: Scientists use multicolored stuff.
* {{Technobabble}}: It sounds like technical jargon but doesn't mean anything.
* {{Technophobia}}: Being [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes afraid]] of modern technology.
* TestSubjectForHire: People agree to be a test subject in a scientific study for some extra cash.
* UnscientificScience: When a writer explains something that should be scientifically impossible with an explanation that's also scientifically impossible.
* UnstableGeneticCode: Someone can [[{{Shapeshifting}} shape-shift]] due to wacky DNA.
* WeirdScience: Science that works weirdly.
* WhatWeNowKnowToBeTrue: What we take as scientific truth is outdated within the story.

[[/index]]
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