Forty years ago, anthropologists firmly believed that Neanderthals and modern homo sapiens had never mated, but advances in genetic testing have since proven that incorrect— such is the _________ nature of science.
fallacious
evolving
counterfactual
advancing
vacillating
indeterminable
Sometimes a seeming theme trap (“ evolving”) is not a trap— this sentence is literally about evolution, and also uses “evolving” or “advancing,” the correct answers, metaphorically. “Fallacious” and “counterfactual” form an incorrect pair; the sentence doesn’t say that all science is wrong, just that it is constantly revised to account for new information. “Vacillating” is tempting because it can also mean changing, but it implies going back and forth, which is not the correct meaning. “Indeterminable” is similarly tempting because it means incapable of being decided, but the sentence isn’t really saying that; it is saying that science changes over time.