The non-science of Fringe: And Those We’ve Left Behind

Fringe | Season 4 | Episode 6 | “And Those We’ve Left Behind”

Peter enters the Time Bubble.

A well-meaning scientist creates a basement-dwelling machine that allows him to briefly go back in time and hang out with his now-dementia-suffering wife. Of course, this has many unintended consequences and it’s up to our Universe-hopping team to fix it.

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

Several other posters have pointed out some films/shows with similar themes (principally Stargate SG1 and Groundhog Day), but the first reference that came to me was an episode of Angel where a scientist tries to stop time in order to prevent his girlfriend from breaking up with him (Happy Anniversary; season 2, episode 13).

Walter’s device for detecting “chemical signatures” is probably some kind of fluorescence meter, perhaps calibrated to detect wavelengths specific to certain chemical compounds. However, there would be no way to differentiate between a chemical of interest and another one that happened to fluoresce at the same wavelength.

Alpha radiation is a term used to describe a free-moving helium nucleus (two protons and two neutrons), usually one that is emitted in radioactive decay. “Heightened levels” of this radiation would necessitate dosimeters and breathing masks, making Peter’s grabbing of a Geiger counter a little cavalier.

On a similar theme, neutron radiation is highly dangerous, and if Peter suspected it (his Geiger counter was clicking alarmingly) he really should not have put his hand through a radioactive car bumper. Neutron degradation of metals, though, is a well-known effect (but most modern cars have bumpers made of plastic – I would have checked what model the teenagers were driving if it had been identifiable; perhaps no car manufacturer wants to be associated with bumpers that crumble when irradiated).

Peter’s “Faraday cage” is, as we have mentioned before, nothing of the sort. It might best be described as an electromagnetic field interferer (or nullifier).

The phrase “we need someone with a science background” is always right.

The non-science of Fringe: Novation

Fringe | Season 4 | Episode 5 | “Novation”

Welcome to my lair, Fringe team. I'm impressed that you made it this far.

The new-model shapeshifters (S-1000) outrun Fringe division yet again, while Peter languishes in a probably-illegal detention cell. Plenty of pseudo-medical chat this week, but nothing that I would call outside the realm of sci-fi (even if some of it is a little misdirected).

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

We’ve seen sodium thiopental before (One Night in October) – perhaps Olivia should be taking advantage of Walter’s truth-drugged state to ask him some pointed questions (“It was you that ate the last slice of flan!”).

It’s fairly obvious that Peter’s cell is monitored by CCTV, which is completely purposeless if you’re just going to let him re-wire any electronics within reach. What if he got the doors open, or built a coffee machine?

Tissue microarrays and blood gas analysers do actually exist, so props to the writers there. When Nadine started to rattle off a list of laboratory components, I was waiting for the not-too-distant-future technology to come out (“We also have a quantum genome polariser”).

Peter’s right – there is absolutely no way to figure out whether somebody has a large metal device implanted in them without hunting for it surgically. Nope.

Expectedly, the team fell for the Silence of the Lambs trick (known as a Fakeout Escape). As soon as Olivia got onto the roof and we saw that there was one dead agent, one live agent and no sign of the shapeshifter, everybody who has ever watched television said to themselves, “Ah, the shapeshifter killed the agents and took on the form of one of them in order to fool the other agents. I can’t believe that it’s going to work yet again.”

The non-science of Fringe: Subject 9

Fringe | Season 4 | Episode 4 | “Subject 9″

Who you gonna call?

In a Fringe-y take on Ghost, Peter astral-projects himself to Olivia and then somehow makes it back to Earth-1. Apologies for the lack of blog activity recently; I hope to be able to get back to a regular weekly schedule before the year is out.

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

Walter has a model of a fullerene on his desk, probably C₆₀ or C₇₀.

Astrid is using Walter’s Cold War-era Geiger counter again, which is presumably somehow superior to modern technology (perhaps it is particularly good at detecting radiation from Earth-2). A rad is an obsolete (everywhere except the USA) unit of absorbed radiation dose, or radiation absorbed per unit mass of exposed matter (the modern unit is the gray). However, not all radioactive materials are equal and it’s usually more useful to have units weight the radiation dose according to how much biological damage the radiation causes. For this we use the sievert (but Walter’s equipment would probably use the rem).

Would it really have been so hard to find Subject 9′s files? There were only 37 subjects (according to the conversation), and Walter and William wouldn’t have made it very far as scientists if they didn’t organise their records at least a little.

When Olivia shoots through the window to escape from the cafe, the entire pane of glass shatters. Innocent bystanders aside, would a handgun bullet really have this effect? I would have thought that it would either punch a small hole in the (presumably non-safety) glass, or break the window below the point of impact (rather than the entire pane).

Walter’s suggestion of using energy to neutralise other energy isn’t a bad one, though trying to focus interference on an astral projection might be a bridge too far.

The non-science of Fringe: Alone in the World

Fringe | Season 4 | Episode 3 | “Alone in the World”

Olivia and Lincoln investigate the latest Fringe event.

The overplot stalls for a week as the Fringe-1 team tackle a sentient fungus the only way they know how – ineptly and with no attempt at communication.

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

A labmda sensor sounds like something that the writers might have made up, but it actually is a real-world oxygen sensor. It is essentially a solid oxide fuel cell, with the voltage across the cell being proportional to the amount of oxygen in the sample gas versus that of a reference gas (usually clean air). Lambda sensors are so-named because they are often used in car exhaust fuel sensors – the oxygen in the exhaust is indicative of the air-to-fuel ratio (λ) in the engine.

Cordyceps is a real genus of fungi, and includes the recently-famous “zombie ant” species Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. It’s a very apt choice given the episode’s commentary on its parasitic nature.

Ultraviolet light might destroy the fungus, or the fungus might have evolved some kind of resistance to it. Flamethrowers give you more certainty, but the exterminators make two possibly fatal errors: They are not wearing full protective gear (no head/face coverings, not even sunglasses) and they are setting huge fires in a confined space (exposing everyone to toxic fumes, spores and/or severe oxygen depletion).

As was probably obvious to everyone except the characters, it is a terrible idea to wander around a dangerous fungus site (a fungus that has demonstrated its ability to emit spores and kill people) without any kind of protective gear whatsoever.

Walter reconfigures the neurostimulator for magnetic resonance, which sounds fine in theory but falls short when we consider that there is no high-strength magnetic field like in an actual MRI facility.

The science of Breaking Bad: Face Off

Breaking Bad | Season 4 | Episode 13 | “Face Off”

It's all over - for now, at least.

Season four of Breaking Bad goes out with a bang and a hideous knife-twist, setting a new standard for serialised drama. To my knowledge, nobody has even thought about writing season five yet, so we may be in for a long wait until meth chemistry is back on the small screen again.

You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

The non-science of Fringe: One Night in October

Fringe | Season 4 | Episode 2 | “One Night in October”

Olivia-2 attempts to solve a very cold case.

With some kind of cooperative agreement in place between the two Universes, Olivia-1 heads over to solve a crime that has been perplexing the Fringe-2 team for years. A watchable, tense episode ensues, with most plot threads tied up neatly.

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

The brain-cooling device is fairly over-the-top, the principal issue being the fluorescent liquid. Would our serial emotion-stealer really go to all the trouble of putting blacklights in his Evil Lair just to make the coolant look more futuristic? The heat exchanger looks appallingly inefficient as well – the liquid to be cooled should run through the middle of the cooling vanes, not on top of them (although then the audience couldn’t see it).

Our kidnapper is using sodium thiopental as an anaesthetic-cum-truth serum.

Sodium thiopental

The science of Breaking Bad: End Times

Breaking Bad | Season 4 | Episode 12 | “End Times”

Walt and Jesse work out their differences, for now.

The writers stun us yet again with an episode packed full of tension, shocks and twists. There’s only a little science, but that’s forgiveable for such great television.

You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

The non-science of Fringe: Neither Here Nor There

Fringe | Season 4 | Episode 1 | “Neither Here Nor There”

Olivia and Lincoln, on the case together at last.

Fringe slips back onto our screens for a fourth season, jumping right into weekly casework and dropping hints about what has happened in the short time (days?) since the Universes were joined and Peter sort-of-vanished.

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

An electron gun is an essential component of most visual display equipment made before the advent of LCD, LED and plasma technology. An electric current heats up a metal filament or rod, causing it to emit electrons. These electrons are accelerated towards a screen using an electric field, and special coatings on the screen cause it to fluoresce (emit light) when the electrons strike it. Images are built up by moving the electron beam across the screen very rapidly, and colour images by using different beams for red, green and blue light (it looks like the Observer got hold of a red one).

Thirty-odd people were killed in a highly unusual fashion, and nobody thought to place the kill sites on a map? Really? It took Agent Lee’s insight to realise that the killings were grouped around transit stations? Current score for this season – Baddies: 1 | Fringe Division: -1000.

The science of Breaking Bad: Crawl Space

Breaking Bad | Season 4 | Episode 11 | “Crawl Space”

After twenty years, Gus confronts Tio (Hector) with the results of his actions.

Events spin rapidly out of control this week, destroying a wide swath of pristine plot expectations.

You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

The science of Breaking Bad: Salud

Breaking Bad | Season 4 | Episode 10 | “Salud”

Mike, Gus and Jesse head off to show the Cartel how it's done.

Jesse’s Adventures in Mexico take a decidedly assertive turn, as he wows the Cartel with his cooking skills and then assists in their demise. Back in the USA, Saul’s instincts about Skylar’s use of the drug money prove correct. In this post, I’ll be talking briefly about the methods we see the Cartel’s cooks using.

You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.