Mice From Mud: The Theory of Spontaneous GenerationHow science debunked a 2,000-year-old 'obvious' fact.

From the show

Historically Bad Advice

For millennia, the world's greatest thinkers, including Aristotle, believed that life could arise from non-living matter. This theory of spontaneous generation explained how fleas came from dust and mice from moldy grain. It was accepted as common sense. Then, a series of simple experiments, culminating in Louis Pasteur's work, proved that life only comes from life. This story shows how even the most widely accepted ideas can be wrong until someone challenges them with evidence.