Spontaneous Generation

Spontaneous generation was an early scientific idea suggesting that living organisms could emerge suddenly and without parents from non-living materials, such as flies appearing from rotting meat or mice arising from hay. This belief persisted for centuries before scientists demonstrated that life comes from existing life through experiments, leading to its being debunked. Today, we understand that all living things originate from pre-existing organisms via reproduction, and spontaneous generation is considered a historical misconception.