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.

*** ''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}}.

** 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]]