Ben Levi,
I have a question for you (and those who take a similar approach)
Lets rewind time Suppose we lived as the Gemara was written down, and I were to say to you wow the chachamim are realy up to date on modern science they even discuss halachos relating to the well known phenomena of spontaneus generation such as mud turning to dirt, killing lice on shabbos etc…
Would you have replied: well not quite, chazal dont actually accept modern science “when Chazal wrote what appears to be simple scientific facts in most instances they did really care if what they were writing was in actuallity the case, rather the intent was the information that was “encoded within”