Question the Media

1. On an episode of The X-Files, cockroaches from outer space invade a small New England town. They have a metallic exoskeleton. What carbohydrate forms the exoskeleton of earthly cockroaches? (chemistry)

1. The book "The Hot Zone," about Ebola virus, discusses human cell walls. How is this incorrect?

1. On the daytime drama "Guiding Light," Blake is pregnant with twins. There are two fathers. Are the twins dizygotic or monozygotic, and how did they arise? (reproduction and development).
2. In Jonathan Kellerman's novel "The Web," the U.S. government conducts a secret research project, and injects healthy volunteers with a mixture of toxins and viruses. The people think they are receiving vaccines. A woman in the third trimester of pregnancy receives an injection, and a month later, gives birth prematurely to a baby with anencephaly (lacking most brain structures) and also lacking arms and legs. The physician who was duped into giving the injections blames this baby's problems on the injection. Why is he incorrect? (development)
3. In Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, the developer of a theme park featuring life-size dinosaurs tells his audience of visiting scientists about the "billions of genetic codes." How is he incorrect?
4. In Jurassic Park and The Lost World, huge cloned dinosaurs populate islands. Cite a developmental problem in populating an island with reconstructed dinosaurs that neither the book nor the film addresses. (development, genetics)
5. In Woody Allen's classic science fiction spoof "Sleeper," two scientists attempt to clone a leader from cells in all that is left of him -- his nose. How can the information in a nose cell be used to reconstruct an entire individual? (development, genetics)
6. An advertisement for a multivitamin product exclaims, "If it's in the news, it's in my Centrum!" Which vitamins can be dangerous if taken in too-high doses? (development)
7. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are twins. What percentage of their genes do they have in common?
8. On The X-Files, evil reproductive endocrinologists create a group of people called the Eves, who are clones. Explain how they might have been created.
9. On The X-Files, aliens abduct Agent Scully, remove her oocytes, and fertilize them with alien sperm. A group of redheaded males all named Kurt Crawford arise from this experiment. What condition would have to be met for the Kurts to be clones?
10. On The Young and the Restless, Sharon became pregnant in June, 1996. She delivered a baby in April, 1997 that was deemed two months premature. How is this incorrect?

1. On an episode of The X-Files, a father and son have tails and have the ability to change their appearance to resemble other people. The son impregnates five women, each of whom gives birth to a child with a tail -- two females and three males. When Agent Scully examines the chromosomes of the father and son, she discovers that each has a small deletion of chromosome 8.
   • What are two pieces of evidence that suggest what the mode of inheritance is for this condition?
   • What is the mode of inheritance for this condition?
   • Draw a pedigree depicting this family.
2. On the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless," the character of Nicholas Newman was born in 1988. He was sent away to boarding school at the age of 6, and returned a year later, and appeared old enough to enter his senior year of high school. What real-life inherited condition causes rapid aging? (genetics)
3. In Naomi Ragan's novel "Tamar," a woman with blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin is raped by a man with dark brown skin and eyes. The woman's husband has brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin, and he is infertile (although they do not yet know this). She does not tell anyone about the rape because she is a religious Jew and her community will persecute her if she tells about it. The woman becomes pregnant as a result of the rape, the child has brown eyes and olive skin, and grows up to be a rabbi. He marries a Jewish woman with white skin, and the book climaxes when she gives birth to a child with dark brown skin. Why is this impossible?
4. Bone marrow transplants are rare in real life, but fairly common on soap operas.
   • a. In 1994 on General Hospital, 6-year-old Maxie needed a heart transplant because her heart was damaged by Kawasaki disease, an autoimmune disorder. Conveniently, her 7-year-old cousin, BJ, died when the school van was hit by a car driven by a drunk driver. The transplant was a success because the donor and recipient are related. What percentage of their genes did Maxie and BJ share? What is an autoimmune disease?
   • b. In 1996, 3-year-old Lulu, also of General Hospital, needed a bone marrow transplant to treat aplastic anemia, a very rare condition that is also quite common on soap operas. Her brother Lucky's bone marrow did not match, but her half brother Nikolas's bone marrow did. Why is this possible, but not as likely as Lucky being a match?
   • c. On All My Children, Dimitri Marick and Maria Santos are each carriers (heterozygotes) for beta thalassemia, an autosomal recessive condition. Dimitri is married to Erica Kane, and Maria is married to Edmund Grey, who is the half brother of Dimitri. Dimitri's mother passed on the thalassemia gene, and because Edmund had a different mother, he is not a carrier.

   Distraught over family problems, Dimitri and Maria sleep together. Soon Maria finds she is pregnant. Dimitri and Maria are concerned that the child will have the severe, homozygous form of beta thalassemia, so they have a DNA fingerprinting paternity test done. The test reveals that Edmund is the father, but an evil character switches the test results (a common practice on television that rarely, if ever, occurs in real labs), so everyone thinks that Dimitri is the father.

   • a. If Dimitri is the father, what is the probability that the child will inherit the severe form of thalassemia?
   • b. If Dimitri is the father, what is the probability that the child will be a carrier?
   • c. Because Edmund is the father, what is the chance that the child is a carrier?

1. On The X-Files, Agent Scully often speaks about individual organisms undergoing evolution. How is this incorrect?
2. In the novel "Neanderthal," paleontologists discover two civilizations of Neanderthals living in Turkish mountains. Do you think that this is plausible? Why or why not?

1. On the X-Files, a monster that is half-human, half-Turbelarian flatworm lives in the sewer system and terrorizes people through toilets. To what two phyla does this "flukeman" belong?

1. In the film Phenomenon, John Travolta's character develops amazing capacities of memory, learning, and reasoning, explained eventually by discovery of a brain tumor. What part of the brain would be affected to cause these symptoms?
2. On an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, crew members go crazy because they become robbed of R.E.M. sleep. Describe this phase of sleep. Why do you think it is essential to well-being? (nervous system)
3. On The X-Files, Eddie Van Blundht was a monster who could alter his facial appearance to resemble anyone, by moving his smooth muscle at will. Why is this impossible?
4. In the middle of their spring, 1995 concert tour, the drummer for the band R.E.M. suffered a cerebral aneurysm while onstage. He survived. Describe what happened to him.
5. In H. G. Wells' book "War of the Worlds," Martians ultimately fail to invade the earth because they become infected with terrestrial microbes. What types of biochemicals or cells might have protected them? (immune system)
6. In an episode of The X-Files, a monster sucks out peoples' pituitary glands through their noses. What symptoms would a person lacking a pituitary gland develop? People have pituitary glands surgically removed if a tumor develops there. How are they treated to prevent symptoms from developing? (endocrine)

1. In the film Fly Away Home, goslings hatch and immediately look at a 12-year-old girl. They follow her everywhere, and she is eventually able to teach them to fly. What type of behavior do the geese exhibit?

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