From dinosaurs to alien jaws: Clemson researchers separate science from fiction
January 8, 2026
January 2 is National Science Fiction Day. We help reveal which sci-fi ideas are pure myth and which are grounded in real science.
January 2 is National Science Fiction Day. To honor it, some Clemson University College of Science faculty are separating fact from fiction — revealing which sci-fi ideas are pure myth and which are surprisingly grounded in real science.
Dinosaurs and DNA
“There are always questions about the limits of ancient DNA,” Witt Dillon says.
The movie “Jurassic Park” especially fuels our imagination with the idea of resurrecting dinosaurs. In the film, scientists extract dinosaur DNA from a mosquito trapped in amber. In reality, however, any DNA that old would be far too degraded to provide usable genetic information.
The oldest DNA scientists have collected is from mammoths that are one million years old, still much younger than dinosaurs. The mammoths were preserved in permafrost. Scientists have found protein fragments from a couple of dinosaur samples in rare cases, but they have not seen enough genetic material to imagine a park filled with dinosaurs. In most fossils, the bone has completely transformed into mineral, Witt Dillon said.
With all the media buzz around “de-extinction,” like the highly publicized birth of dire wolf pups, one might imagine woolly mammoths roaming the Earth again. In reality, though, scientists didn’t bring back a dire wolf—they simply used genetic tools to insert a few dire wolf genes into the genome of a modern wolf.
Many science-fiction stories, like Lois Lowry’s novel “The Giver,” imagine editing genes to create “desirable” traits. In reality, scientists still have a limited understanding of how genes interact during development, Witt Dillon said. Changing one gene could trigger unexpected side effects and health problems. However, researchers are making progress in using genetic tools to treat harmful mutations in patients, such as those that cause sickle cell anemia, she said.
More than one mouth
Virginia Abernathy, a senior lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences, studies coevolutionary interactions between birds that lay eggs in other birds’ nests — called brood parasites — and the host birds. She also studies how birds perceive egg color and appearance.
She spoke about the 1979 movie “Alien,” where the creature has a smaller mouth inside a larger one. The film’s creature was designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger and based on his painting called “Necronom IV.” His goal was simply to make the creature frightening and horrible. He did not know this physiological feature actually exists in nature.
In 2007, scientists discovered a similar type of mouth in moray eels called a pharyngeal jaw. Many fish also have this feature but the function of the jaw in the eel is particularly unique, Abernathy said.
The second jaw shoots out of the eel’s mouth to grab the prey held by the outer jaw and drags it into the throat down the esophagus. This mechanism allows the eel to consume large, struggling prey even in the confined spaces where the eel lives.
Abernathy also said in the 1998 “Godzilla” movie, which features a giant mutated lizard run amok, the title character reproduces asexually without a male to create a massive amount of eggs. While this may seem unbelievable for a reptile, this phenomenon, known as parthenogenesis, occurs in certain lizard species, as well as some fish and amphibians. Parthenogenesis allows female lizards to reproduce without a male and create a colony of naturally cloned females in a short period of time.
Movie-magic chemistry
Elliot Ennis, a principal lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, said there’s a lot of “movie-magic chemistry” in popular media.
In the movie “The Rock,” a rogue military group led by a renegade general takes over Alcatraz Island and threatens a nerve gas attack on San Francisco. “That’s one of the things that got me kind of interested in chemistry, actually,” Ennis says.
The toxin’s effects of paralysis and death mentioned by the characters are real, but the glowing green glass globes containing the gas are not. Real nerve gas is a clear, odorless, oily liquid, Ennis said.
Wolverine, the Marvel character, has an “adamantium metal” coated skeleton, which contributes to his superpowers. Adamantane is actually a real molecule, Ennis said, but it is composed of hydrogen and carbon, not a metal.
In the DC Comic Universe, Poison Ivy’s sidekick, Bane, is strengthened by a “super-steroid” called Venom. The effect of the steroid seems almost immediate. While there are chemically developed steroids used by athletes to enhance muscle performance, they would not be able to act that fast.
And, finally, the TV show “Breaking Bad” depicted a high school chemistry teacher and his student manufacturing methamphetamine. The show deliberately omitted key chemical steps so if a viewer followed the process exactly as shown, they would not have successfully produced the illegal drug. The show’s iconic blue meth was actually blue rock candy made from sugar crystals.
