History Main / ScienceMarchesOn

*** The title is itself a case of InUniverse ScienceMarchesOn. The heroes find a note by a 16th Century scholar where he claims to have journeyed to the center of Earth, and the narrator's uncle attempts to repeat it, insisting on taking the words literally. However, the more level-headed narrator notes that back then, the scholar would have had no means to know how deep he actually went.

* A 1989 episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' refers to UsefulNotes/FermatsLastTheorem, a then-350-year-old unsolved problem in mathematics, as being still unproven in the 24th century. Five years later it actually was proven. This was referenced in some dialog from an episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine,'' probably to address the earlier gaffe.

* In ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'', Creator/CSLewis writes that Reepicheep wanting his tail back was mainly a matter of mouse pride, and all the other mice are prepared to sacrifice their tails so as not to embarrass their leader. This book was written in the 1950's -- before it was known that mouse tails help regulate body temperature. Then again, talking mice probably had to have their temperature regulation jiggled a bit due to their greater size.

* In ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'', Creator/CSLewis writes that Reepicheep wanting his tail back was mainly a matter of mouse pride. This book was written in the 1950's -- before it was known that mouse tails helped regulate body temperature. Then, with their greater size, talking mice probably had to have their temperature regulation jiggled a bit too.

* Spotted hyenas have fallen under this several times in history. They were once thought to be {{hermaphrodite}}s that regularly switched between being male and female because of the female's infamous "pseudopenis" and larger size. This was eventually understood to be wrong, but the idea of them being stupid scavengers still persists. In reality, they are the smartest social carnivore (smart enough to solve some kinds of puzzles more quickly than primates), and they hunt most of what they eat; it's actually far more common for lions to hijack hyenas' kills than vice versa. The fact that hyenas do the majority of their hunting ''at night'', and hence, couldn't be observed taking down prey until night-vision video photography was an option, accounts for much of this.

* In his 1983 comedy show ''Delirious'', Creator/EddieMurphy expresses fears about having a girlfriend that [[FagHag spends time with homosexuals]], worrying she might kiss them and get AIDS, and then give him AIDS when she kisses him. Scientists have long since disproved the idea of getting AIDS by kissing, barring circumstances like a sore or bleeding inside the mouth. Plus the difference between contracting HIV and getting AIDS. For those too young to remember, back in the 80s, homosexuals were seen to be the origin, or more often the sole victims, of AIDS. Later research proved that this wasn't the case, it was just that the symptoms of AIDS appeared in homosexual communities sooner than straight communities, for reasons best not discussed here. Eddie Murphy, to his credit, has [[OldShame long since apologized]] for this mistake.

** For starters, in 2017 a study determined that ''Troodon'' [[https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/78296/1/cjes-2017-0031.pdf was a dubious genus]] as such members of the genus have been reassigned to ''Stenonychosaurus''
** ''Eoraptor'' might not have been a theropod, but ''[[http://news.discovery.com/animals/running-dinosaur-ancestor-carnivores-110113.html a sauropod ancestor]].''

*** The title is itself a case of InUniverse ScienceMarchesOn. The heroes find a note by a 16th Century scholar where he claims to have journeyed to the center of Earth, and attempt to repeat it. However, the narrator remarks that back then, the scholar would have had no means to know how deep he actually went.

** Along with bloodletting, trepanning is among one of the oldest procedures developed, to the point where prehistoric human remains have been found showing evidence of undergoing (and recovering from) this procedure. Whereas the conditions that bloodletting WOULD be effective at treating likely weren't understood, head wounds are a much easier concept for ancient people to [[IncrediblyLamePun wrap their heads around]], and thus may have been used for medical purposes, in addition to speculated ritualistic reasons possibly explaining prehistoric examples of skulls with holes in them (and evidence of bone healing indicating survival).

SpeculativeFiction often uses the real-world scientific knowledge that was ''actually available'' when it was written. There is nothing wrong with that, and indeed powering and justifying your world with Hard Science is, to many people, preferable to AppliedPhlebotinum and TechnoBabble. Basing your fictional science on real world science is an excellent way to create WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.

This can also include cases where writers predicted an advance in ''engineering'' that never happened for practical reasons, such as having our entire civilization powered by nuclear reactors by 1990, or having cities on the Moon in 2000. It's at least conceivable that such a thing could have happened in hindsight, but it would have been so expensive and unrewarding that it seems as absurd as things that have been actively contradicted by new scientific discoveries.

* Many of the Golden and Silver Age ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} adventures are scientifically inaccurate, such as a hospital he made to treat an octopus' broken bone (octopuses have no bones) or quarantining sea lions for fish scurvy (scurvy is non-infectious and sea lions aren't fish). There was also the prevalent use of coral as underwater rock formations, complete with a quarry to mine them, when later research proved that coral are animals.

* In the late 19th century, a sculptor named Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins built massive statues of what the current science thought dinosaurs looked like, as they had only been recently discovered and rarely in complete skeletons, most of which run contrary to modern science's view. His most famous mistake was the ''Iguanodon'' that walked on all fours and whose thumb was placed on its nose. These sculptures still exist, and can be seen in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Palace_Dinosaurs Crystal Palace Park, London, UK]].

* While nowadays it is an almost universal consensus amongst scientists that the extinction of the dinosaurs was brought about by an asteroid, up until the 1980s this was not so much the case; for decades, the reason behind the disappearance of the dinosaurs was considered perhaps one of the world's greatest scientific mysteries, with many hypotheses devised by scientists to explain why the dinosaurs died out. Among these various explanations included solar radiation from a nearby star going supernova, mass volcanic eruptions leading to drastic changes in climate, and even a sudden evolutionary onset of new, poisonous plant species. ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' most famously spoofed this mystery in a comic depicting a group of dinosaurs smoking cigarettes. The hypothesis that the extinction was caused by an asteroid hitting Earth was first proposed in 1980 with the discovery of geological evidence that a giant meteorite had landed in Mexico at around the time that dinosaurs vanished from the fossil record, though it took the concurrence of many paleontologists and scientists, as well as popular writers such as Creator/IsaacAsimov, before the theory began to gain serious traction; it was only after the geologic mapping of a massive crater around the theorized impact site that the asteroid hypothesis became widely accepted and the extinction of the dinosaurs was no longer considered to be the puzzling mystery it once was.

* 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 normal.

* While ''VideoGame/PaleoPines'' was in development, ''Troodon'' was considered a valid dinosaur genus. By the time it was released in late 2023, it had been deemed invalid, with most specimens being reclassified as ''Stenonychosaurus''. [[https://twitter.com/PaleoPines/status/1711750509973962805 The developers acknowledged this in a tweet.]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' introduced Amaura and Aurorus, Pokémon themed on the ''Amargasaurus''. Though it is quite accurate in other regards (such as its toe structure and head shape), both Pokémon have a characteristic pair of membraneous sails on their necks, which is now less popular among paleontologists than the idea that the spines were bare and used for intimidation and combat.
** Then a 2022 study on the morphology of the neural spines came out stating that ''Amargasaurus'' and its relatives probably did have [[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joa.13659 sails on their necks]].

* For the longest time, people believed snakes to be deaf since they had no external ears and seldom appear to react to airborne sounds. It's now been shown that snakes ''can'' hear to an extent (to what extent is unknown) by picking up vibrations from the air or ground through their bodies and processing them through the inner-ear. In fact, loud noises can actually cause stress to snakes.

* It was once thought to be possible for living organisms to arise from nonliving matter in a process called spontaneous generation. This theory was increasingly challenged from the 17th century on and finally disproven once and for all in the 19th century by Louis Pasteur.

* In the 1950's scifi classic ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'', two doctors sit and discuss Klaatu's race's amazing health care -- ''as they both smoke cigarettes inside the hospital''.

* [[KillItWithFire Burning a scarlet fever patient's personal belongings to stop the infection from spreading]] was common in 1922, when ''Literature/TheVelveteenRabbit'' was first published. Modern children can be reassured that [[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/inkfish/2014/03/25/classic-childrens-books-ruined-modern-medicine/#.XKwe-IzTWhA this won't happen to their favourite toy]]; we now know that scarlet fever is very unlikely to spread through personal effects, and if we hadn't learnt better, less drastic disinfection methods have been developed since the publication of a book approaching its centenary, and it's been a doddle to treat since penicillin became widely used in 1942, so it's no longer dangerous enough to warrant destroying everything the patient touched during the illness.
* In ''Literature/TheYellowWallpaper'', the narrator is placed in solitary confinement ("the rest cure") for [[HystericalWoman hysteria]]. Her condition is now thought to be postpartum depression, now easily treatable with medications and/or therapy. And, yes, the "rest cure" was one of the (many) horrible ways a diagnosis of "hysteria" was treated. (Others included cutting or burning the clitoris and/or labia, {{Lobotomy}}, electroshock "therapy," and [[RapePortrayedAsRedemption rape]].) The story itself functions as a critical response to such medical treatment as we watch the main character [[GoMadFromTheIsolation lose her sanity.]]

* In his 1983 comedy show ''Delirious'', Creator/EddieMurphy expresses fears about having a girlfriend that spends time with homosexuals, worrying she might kiss them and get AIDS, and then give him AIDS when she kisses him. Scientists have long since disproved the idea of getting AIDS by kissing, barring circumstances like a sore or bleeding inside the mouth. Plus the difference between contracting HIV and getting AIDS. For those too young to remember, back in the 80s, homosexuals were seen to be the origin, or more often the sole victims, of AIDS. Later research proved that this wasn't the case, it was just that the symptoms of AIDS appeared in homosexual communities sooner than straight communities, for reasons best not discussed here. Eddie Murphy, to his credit, has [[OldShame long since apologized]] for this mistake.

** Dogs in the Neanderthal universe are physically indistinguishable from wolves. The reason given is that Neanderthals only selected for behavior and hunting companions, and did not care what their dogs looked like. Research with tame silver foxes has shown how selecting for tameness inevitably results in other neotenous traits (short legs, larger skulls, folded ears, curled tails), even without specifically breeding for them. With this in mind, Neanderthals would have had to actually put a great deal of work into breeding dogs that still resembled wolves in any way shape or form, and the primitive appearance of dogs would actually have had to be very deliberate.

** The book also mentiones zero-G environment only for a brief moment when the projectile was passing the point where the gravities of Earth and Moon cancel each other out. The better application of the mechanics well known even in Verne's time would show the zero-G state prevailing for the whole flight, as it happens in RealLife.

** Aside from the biology, there's also some very big geography/geology weirdness in how the Nautilus can sail straight to the South Pole under the ice when we now know the South Pole is over land. Exploration of the Antarctic continent was just beginning when Verne wrote the book, so it was plausible at the time, but now it just looks weird. (The NORTH Pole is over water, and submarines regularly have and do travel to it under the ice -- and the first to do so also happened to be named "Nautilus".)

*** The use of this trope was humorously lampshaded in Science Comics' ''Dinosaurs: Fossils And Feathers'', where page 53 makes a mention of ''Brontosaurus'' becoming an invalidated genus with a panel showing "''Brontosaurus''" saying "What's up, guys?" [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer only to be ignored by the other sauropods]]. Then, at Page 112, the very end of the book…

* The 2007 documentary series ''Prehistoric Predators'' made significantly more effort to be accurate than many other prehistoric life documentaries of the time. However, some of its claims have been cast in doubt or outright debunked.

* 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 Homo Naledi, which had a brain a third the size of Sapiens, and appears to have used fire, buried its dead, used 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.

* Relatedly, once the meteor theory was accepted, the new consensus was that dinosaurs were already dying out due to climate change and increased volcanic activity, with the meteor being what pushed them over the edge. This was gradually debunked as more fossils were dug up from the end of the Cretaceous, revealing that dinosaurs still maintained a spectacular amount of diversity right up to the end of their reign. To give one example, works in TheTurnOfTheMilleniuk would likely feature only tyrannosaurs as the top predators at the end of the Cretaceous, while TheNewTwenties would reveal that they lived alongside giant raptors in the northern hemisphere and didn't exist in the south, instead having their role filled by abelisaurs and megaraptorids.

* ''VideoGame/{{Wolf}}'' is a 1994 educational game that references "alpha" wolves. The concept of beta and alpha wolves became an outdated concept within fifteen years of the game's release.

* When ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' (which features magical girls infused with the DNA of endangered animals) was first released in 2000, the grey wolf (''Canis lupus'') was considered endangered, and one of the characters has its DNA. The grey wolf's conservation status has fluctuated since, but said character remains in the [[Anime/TokyoMewMewNew 2022 anime remake]] despite being listed as Least Concern at the time of airing.

* When ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' (which features magical girls infused with the DNA of endangered animals) was first released in 2000, the grey wolf (''Canis lupus'') was considered endangered, and one of the characters has its DNA. The grey wolf's conservation status has fluctuated since, but said character remains in the [[Anime/Tokyo Mew Mew New 2022 anime remake]] despite being listed as Least Concern at the time of airing.

* When ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' (which features magical girls infused with the DNA of endangered animals) was first released in 2000, the grey wolf (''Canis lupus'') was considered endangered, and one of the characters has its DNA. The grey wolf's conservation status has fluctuated since, but said character remains in the [[Anime / Tokyo Mew Mew New 2022 anime remake]] despite being listed as Least Concern at the time of airing.