History Main / ScienceMarchesOn

* It was once wildly believed and taught that dinosaur/extinct animal coloration would always be something fundamentally impossible to know, but it was discovered in 2008 that melanosomes, which are responsible for animal coloration, are sometimes capable of fossilizing -- they've just been previously thought to be traces of bacteria or misidentified as traces of other things. Comparing the structure and amount of fossilized melanosomes to that of living animals allows one to infer the color of the extinct animal, and now there is a small handful of dinosaurs and extinct birds (including a long-beaked extinct penguin) with full [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_coloration color restorations]] that are believed to be highly accurate, so now we can know awesome things like that ''Microraptor'' looked like a four-winged black iridescent crow, and there is a species of one genus of dinosaur ''(Sinosauropteryx)'' that was reddish-brown, had a white striped tail and underbelly, and had something similar to a raccoon mask. And while most of these are small feathered dinosaurs, one extraordinarily well-preserved fossil from Canada of a large nodosaurid ankylosaur called ''Borealopelta'' preserves pigments that suggest it was a reddish-brown color in life.

* The case of the Brontosaurus:

* It was formerly believed that feathers originated in the theropod lineage at some point during the Jurassic period, with small, arboreal theropods such as ''archeopteryx'' evolving them for flight. However, molecular evidence has shown that the origin of feathers go even further back than that. A paper published in 2006 confirmed that alligators possess the same gene for growing feathers that birds do, which would punt the origin for feathers back to the common ancestor of birds and crocodilians, sometime back in the Triassic period. Indeed, it would appear that bird feathers, dinosaur protofeathers and pterosaur pycnofibres are all variations on the same basal archosaur fuzz, which evolved as a form of insulation rather than for flight. Pennaceous (ie: bird-like) feathers have been pushed back farther in the line of feather evolution; the so-called "protofeathers" are actually just crushed pennaceous feathers; thus animals like ''Velociraptor'' (which has quill knobs, a dead giveaway of pennaceous feathering) or ''Yutyrannus'' (with its feather imprints on the fossil slab it was preserved in) sport pennaceous feathers. Another feathered theropod, ''Sciurumimus'', is an ''incredibly'' basal coelurosaur; it was only ''slightly'' more advanced than the megalosauroids (and was even jumping between being a coelurosaur or megalosauroid for a while).
* ''Edmontosaurus'' actually had a [[http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/12/surpise-well-studied-dinosaur-actually-had-a-cocks-comb/ crest after all]].
* ''Basilosaurus'' was originally thought to be a marine reptile, and its bones were arranged like a [[SeaMonster sea serpent]], hence the name it received. It was later discovered that ''Basilosaurus'' was not a reptile at all, but an early ''whale.''

* It was once wildly believed and taught that dinosaur/extinct animal coloration would always be something fundamentally impossible to know, but it was discovered in 2008 that melanosomes, which are responsible for animal coloration, are sometimes capable of fossilizing -- they've just been previously thought to be traces of bacteria or misidentified as traces of other things. Comparing the structure and amount of fossilized melanosomes to that of living animals allows one to infer the color of the extinct animal, and now there is a small handful of dinosaurs and extinct birds (including a long-beaked extinct penguin) with full [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_coloration color restorations]] that are believed to be highly accurate, so now we can know awesome things like that ''Microraptor'' looked like a four-winged black iridescent crow, and there is a species of one genus of dinosaur ''(Sinosauropteryx)'' that was reddish-brown, had a white striped tail and underbelly, and had something similar to a raccoon mask.

* Old depictions of ''Dimetrodon'' and other Permian fauna have referred to them as "mammal-like reptiles", and have been traditionally depicted with scaly skin and sprawled-out limbs. Newer knowledge now knows them to be ''synapsids'', a branch of amniotes entirely separate from sauropsids (reptiles and para-reptiles) and represented today only by modern mammals (meaning that while still somewhat inaccurate, calling them a "reptile-like mammal" is more precise than a "mammal-like reptile"). As such, this has changed their modern portrayals to have smooth, glandular hippo-like skin (or even outright fur in more advanced therapsids) and more-upright limbs more akin to a mammal than a lizard.
* Paleoanthropologists have, for a long time, believed that brain size relative to body size is an indication of a hominin's potential for intelligence. Then, in the early 2020s, we find that Homo Naledi, which had a brain a third the size of Sapiens, appears to have used fire, buried its dead, fashioned tools, and created cave art; all of these behaviors are commonly associated with intelligence in modern hominins. What's more, they were doing these things a hundred thousand years ''before'' Sapiens and Neanderthal.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
** ''Film/JurassicPark1993'':
*** The ''Tyrannosaurus'' is depicted with [[ScaryTeeth exposed teeth]] to make them look scarier. It was later theorized that their teeth were fully covered by lips; after all, they were terrestrial animals, and they couldn't hydrate like a crocodile. Nonetheless whether or not ''Tyrannosaurus'' actually had lips or not is still up to debate in the paleontological community.
*** Whilst it was considered rather dubious that dromaeosaurids were scaly at the time of the first film, it wasn't really confirmed, with the first feathered dinosaur fossil being discovered three years after the first film's release.
*** The ''Velociraptors'' are an unusual case -- their size and much of their appearance is unlike the real-life animal because Michael Crichton based a lot of his research on the work of one specific paleontologist who was suggesting Deinonychus was a species of Velociraptor. The paleontologist in question has since recanted this.
*** One of the major plot points is that, due to having the gaps in their DNA filled with that of frogs, some dinosaurs inherited the frogs' SexShifter abilities and became male, allowing them to breed. Later discoveries in pelicans and crocodiles show that archosaurs can reproduce parthenogenically, rendering the issue moot (though for what it is worth, reptile and bird genetics would cause all of the new dinosaurs to be males).
** The raptors also strangely invert this -- despite Alan Grant's infamous "six-foot turkey" monologue, the raptors rarely use their sickle claws to slash at prey, instead preferring to use their teeth and arm claws. Recent studies have suggested that the sickle claws on the toes were not actually used for slashing -- they evolved as climbing tools in early, arboreal dromaeosauroids, and later became used as pitons to hold on to struggling prey, much like modern birds of prey.
** ''Film/JurassicParkIII'': In 2014, more complete remains ''Spinosaurus'' [[http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29143096 was found]], which revealed that it had a rather bizarre shape, with disproportionately short limbs with webbed feet, rather than the generic large theropod seen in the film. However, this is also [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting inverted]] in two cases -- firstly, the depiction of ''Spinosaurus'' as bigger than ''T. rex'' was actually correct (indeed, ''Jurassic Park III's'' version is actually ''smaller'' than the real animal, although it is taller) and, secondly, the ''Spinosaurus'' is depicted as a competent swimmer, with recent studies showing that ''Spinosaurus'' was indeed semi-aquatic.

* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' has a story where an old man takes a "youth serum" extracted from monkeys, which also gives him simian traits like climbing trees and annoying the dog.

* When giant monitor lizards known as Komodo dragons were discovered in 1910, it was assumed that their size was due to island gigantism. Thanks to the remains of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania even larger prehistoric monitor lizards]] being discovered in Australia, we now know different: Komodo dragons are actually a relic of a time when such gigantic monitor lizards were more widespread. In fact, Komodo dragons also used to live in Australia.
* The Komodo dragon in more recent times has become the subject of another often repeated bit of misinformation, including in many nature documentaries. Namely, the notion that it kills large animals via infection from dangerous bacteria in its mouth, and that it will follow a bitten animal for days until it dies. While scientists did at one time infer this happened, more detailed studies have shown it to not be the case. The mouth of a Komodo is no more dirty than that of other monitor lizards, and while wounds from its bites can become infected this is exacerbated due to its largest prey (water buffalo) tending to retreat into stagnant ponds when wounded, leading to potential sepsis (water buffalo were introduced to Komodo long ago, and retain this escape behavior despite the waters in Komodo being generally more stagnant than in the buffalo's native range). Many animals heal from their bites just fine. Komodos do appear to possess some level of venom, though the extent of this and the role it plays in hunting is still debated. What is clear is that the majority of the time if a Komodo's hunt succeeds it kills the prey animal on the spot after wounding its legs, blood loss being the actual cause of death as the Komodo basically kills it by eating it. If the animal escapes then it's a failed hunt for the dragon, who isn't likely to waste energy following it for long when it can simply wait to ambush something else. If the animal does die later then whatever dragons are nearby will simply take advantage of the free meal.

* For a long time, and still persisting today, it was believed that giraffes are completely mute. Modern research demonstrates that not only do giraffes make vocalizations, they are one of the three families of terrestrial mammals, alongside elephants and rhinos, capable of communicating in the subsonic range. They have been found to be able to communicate with each other over astonishing distances. Research into giraffe communication has barely started, and already there is evidence that it may be the most complex of all even-toed ungulates. The okapi is more well-known to be vocal, but early research also shows their communication to be much more complex than initially given credit for.
* It was once assumed that elephants, hippos and rhinos were all closely related because they were all large herbivored that had thick gray skin. They were grouped together under the order ''Pachydermata''. While all three (especially elephants) still get referred to as "pachyderms" from time to time, further research has shown that all three are actually members of different orders, and that elephants are more closely related to ''manatees'' than they are to the other two.

*** Also, Verne had to hand-wave away a basic problem with the physics of ''his'' moon-shot launching system (the acceleration required to reach escape velocity within the length of a gun barrel would reduce the passengers to chunky salsa). Although it seems that [[ExecutiveMeddling this was due to Hetzel, Verne's publisher]], who thought a self propelled rocket wasn't believable (or maybe cool) enough to the audience. Hence the problem which had to be explained away.

** An in-universe case of this happens in ''VideoGame/{{Singularity}}''; when the Russians discover a unique element with properties that put most {{Phlebotinum}} to shame, they classify it as Element 99, or "E99," and you can even see some periodic tables in the labs printed shortly thereafter with E99 in the correct place, and highlighted. Despite this, the research is ''very'' secretive, and the discovery is made before Einsteinium, the element that actually goes into that spot. Shortly before the discovery of Einsteinium is made public, the research into E99 is shut down and completely buried, so the rest of the scientific world has Einsteinium as 99 in their periodic tables.

** And the long-held view that dinosaurs dragged their tails along the ground. It wasn't until the late 80's that this began to change, considering the structure of the hips and tails wouldn't have allowed it. However, some paleontologists are now suspecting that ''Spinosaurus'' would have been the dinosaur that actually dragged its tail, due to its hindlegs being very short (fitting, as ''Spinosaurus'' was essentially the dinosaurian equivalent of a crocodile).

* 2017 saw the publishing of [[https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/78296/1/cjes-2017-0031.pdf this paper]] which found ''Troodon'' to be a dubious genus as the holotype specimen is only a single tooth. As such all members of the genus have been reassigned to the genus ''Stenonychosaurus'' which is known from better remains.

* Paleoanthropologists have, for a long time, believed that brain size relative to body size is an indication of a hominin's potential for intelligence. Then, in the early 2020s, we find that Homo Naledi, which had a brain a third the size of Sapiens, appears to have used fire, buried its dead, fashioned tools, and created cave art; all of these behaviors are commonly associated with intelligence in modern hominins. What's more, they were doing this a hundred thousand years ''before'' Sapiens and Neanderthal.

* The opening to ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie'' famously says that we have no idea how bees have been able to fly, although we've since figured out. Turns out, bees should only be incapable of flight if you assume their wings are rigid boards. However, they can and do flex, which provides enough extra lift to get their fat little bodies off the ground.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SecretSquirrel'' episode "Quark" relies on Secret reading the dictionary and informing the eponymous villainous particle that quarks are only hypothetical, causing him to vanish in a PuffOfLogic. The existence of quarks is no longer even vaguely controversial nowadays.

** Likewise, the novel seems to suggest that global warming would only make England a tropical paradise.

** If a popular scientific theory held by a large enough proportion of the world is disproven, the universe will go ahead and create a version of that theory anyway in an event known as a Maniac Storm. This was how the alternative realms of existence mentioned in the first bullet point above came into being. It's also how a number of antagonistic factions were founded; the Viking lander reaching Mars in 1971 and proving there was no intelligent alien life on the planet was followed seconds later by a Martian invasion, and the first Lemurians came about when it was proven that there was absolutely wasn't a mystical island full of serpent-people with advanced technology who wanted to destroy humanity.

** The early silent film based on the book describes the astronauts and their spacecraft being fired from a giant gun. Launching a spacecraft in that manner would thoroughly kill the astronauts from excessive G-forces, which is why real manned spaceflight is done with staged rockets. This was [[LampshadeHanging thoroughly discussed by the characters themselves]] and HandWaved away by Captain Nicoll inventing an [[InertialDampening ingenious shock absorber device]] (which wouldn't work anyway, really). Now it is thought that the gun thing was suggested to Verne [[ExecutiveMeddling by his publisher Hetzel]], who thought that the rocket (which Verne envisioned originally) [[RuleOfCool wouldn't be cool enough]].