Category
Biology
Explore the 10 entries currently assigned to this category. These counts describe this curated catalogue, not the size or rate of change of the field itself.
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Not a fact anymore
Bacterial cells in the human body outnumber human cells by about ten to one.
What we know now
Bacterial and human cell numbers are roughly comparable. One widely cited estimate for a reference adult male is about 38 trillion bacterial cells and 30 trillion human cells, a ratio near 1.3 to 1.
- Status
- Corrected
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- ≈41 years
- Changed approximately
- 2016
Not a fact anymore
Fungi are plants.
What we know now
Fungi form their own major branch of life. Unlike plants, they do not use photosynthesis to make food; they release digestive enzymes into their surroundings and absorb the resulting nutrients. Molecular evidence also shows that fungi are evolutionarily closer to animals than to plants.
- Status
- Reclassified
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- ≈216 years
- Changed approximately
- 1969
Not a fact anymore
Coelacanths became extinct tens of millions of years ago.
What we know now
Living coelacanths survive today in two known species, Latimeria chalumnae and Latimeria menadoensis.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- ≈89 years
- Changed approximately
- 1938–1939
Not a fact anymore
An embryo passes through complete adult stages of its evolutionary ancestors during development.
What we know now
Embryos reflect shared ancestry, but they do not pass through a sequence of complete adult forms of their evolutionary ancestors. Related species often reuse similar developmental structures and genetic programs, then modify them in different ways.
- Status
- Superseded
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- ≈15 years
- Changed approximately
- Late 19th–20th century
Not a fact anymore
A lichen is one ordinary plant-like organism with a single body and ancestry.
What we know now
A lichen is a stable symbiotic system built mainly from a fungus and one or more photosynthetic partners, often algae or cyanobacteria, along with additional microorganisms.
- Status
- Reclassified
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- ≈114 years
- Changed approximately
- 1860s–present
Not a fact anymore
Living organisms such as microbes can routinely arise spontaneously from nonliving matter under ordinary present-day conditions.
What we know now
Microorganisms observed in decaying or fermenting material come from pre-existing organisms or their spores. Ordinary biological reproduction follows biogenesis.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- ≈2,211 years
- Changed approximately
- 17th–19th centuries
Not a fact anymore
Living organisms were generally expected to require a continuous supply of free oxygen to survive and grow.
What we know now
Many organisms live without molecular oxygen. Anaerobes use fermentation or alternative electron acceptors, and obligate anaerobes can be damaged or killed by oxygen.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- Not quantified
- Changed approximately
- 1861–1870s
Not a fact anymore
Species are fixed, separately created forms that do not change into new species over time.
What we know now
Populations evolve across generations, species share common ancestry, and new species can arise when populations diverge genetically and reproductively.
- Status
- Superseded
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- ≈106 years
- Changed approximately
- 19th–20th centuries
Not a fact anymore
An embryo already exists in essentially preformed miniature organization, and development mainly unfolds or enlarges structures that are already present.
What we know now
Embryonic form emerges progressively through cell division, differentiation, signaling, gene regulation, morphogenesis, and interactions among tissues. The organism is not present as a complete miniature individual inside the egg or sperm.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- ≈130 years
- Changed approximately
- Late 18th–early 19th centuries
Not a fact anymore
Swallows disappear in winter because they become torpid and hibernate underwater or in pond mud rather than migrating long distances.
What we know now
Barn Swallows and related migratory swallows travel seasonally between breeding and wintering regions, sometimes covering thousands of kilometers. They do not spend winter submerged in mud.
- Status
- Overturned
- Category
- Biology
- Accepted for
- Not quantified
- Changed approximately
- Late 18th–19th centuries
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