Second this, it was the largest blocker, but also time, with other classes and the cadence of the school year, that didn’t align well with the real world timeframes.

Know - no

Hold theories - still no (definitely many lost to history)

Of the modern documented set, it seems like there are decent theories, but far from definitive. I’d go as far as to say there’s a 50/50 chance that the field is right about at least 1 instance, see Pasteur.

Agreed it’s toward the direction, but too far to say it’s substantial.

I was unaware that these creatures had an entire pseudo science, but I guess it makes sense. But the definition of knowledge is antithetical to this entire study, since at it’s core it studies the undetermined. No question is stupid, but this is blatantly ignorant. Still I’m glad you asked it because I learned something new