The non-science of Fringe: Snakehead

Fringe: Season 2: Episode 9: “Snakehead”

Walter finally gets his solo mission.

Without getting too much into the allegory of our comfortable First World lives being possible only by the exploitation of the poor, this week’s investigation does skirt around a few uncomfortable truths. The usual impossibilities to do with rapid growth aside, this episode was refreshingly easy to watch.

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

The science of Breaking Bad: ABQ

Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 13 : “ABQ”

Walt pulls Jesse out of his retreat.

The season ends with both Walt’s and Jesse’s hopes for the future falling down around their ears, like aeroplanes out of the sky. Events have conspired to keep Walt out of the lab and classroom, so this episode contains nothing of note. Check back soon!

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

The science of Breaking Bad: Phoenix

Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 12: “Phoenix”

Walt shows off the college fund.

As the season nears a close, it looks like Walt and Jesse are going to divide the profits and part ways. Events have conspired to (mostly) keep Walt out of the lab and classroom, so this episode contains nothing of note. Check back soon!

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

The science of Breaking Bad: Mandala

Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 11: “Mandala”

Walt waits for the deal to end all deals.

Walt and Jesse decide to get out of the distribution business and focus on production, which is significantly safer. Events have conspired to (mostly) keep Walt out of the lab and classroom, so this episode contains nothing of note. Check back soon!

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

The non-science of Fringe: August

Fringe: Season 2: Episode 8: “August”

The restaurant runs out of chili peppers.

There’s more than one of everything – even Observers! This episode was refreshingly easy to watch.

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

The science of Breaking Bad: Over

Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 10: “Over”

Walt investigates the water heater.

With a little down-time, Walt embarks on some home improvement and Worst Role Model projects. In this post, I’ll be talking about safety matches.

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

The non-science of Fringe: Of Human Action

Fringe: Season 2: Episode 7: “Of Human Action”

Olivia and Walter in the aftermath of a typical action.

Amazingly, an experiment at Massive Dynamic had some unforeseen (?) consequences and a psychopathic teenager with the ability control minds is let loose. The usual impossibilities aside, there isn’t very much physical science here so this episode contains nothing of note. Check back soon!

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

The non-science of Fringe: Earthling

Fringe: Season 2: Episode 6: “Earthling”

The cosmonaut's final journey.

Monsters! From outer space! And Cold War references! Typically poor alien logic aside, this episode was refreshingly easy to watch.

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

The non-science of Fringe: Dream Logic

Fringe: Season 2: Episode 5: “Dream Logic”

Olivia in search of business cards.

Just when we finally meet a suspect who cooperates fully, he turns out to have an evil alter ego who’s been mainlining dreams. The usual impossibilities aside, this episode was refreshingly easy to watch.

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

Random thoughts

Our opening victim may have been a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as his “demons” looked like they’d been lifted straight from Sunnydale.

I thought that Walter, in his relatively advanced age, shouldn’t have been stuck carrying all the equipment – Peter or Olivia should at least have offered to take some of the bags.

I’m not sure what was in the vial that Walter tricked Kashner into smelling, but for it to knock him out so quickly it would have been so strong as to cause permanent damage.

I’m fairly sure that it would have been more efficient to unplug something or yank the swimming cap off Nayak’s head than to shoot the server rack at random.

Olivia’s anagram – OAUGENYIRENBEFO – can, according to The Internet, be arranged into around 66,667 phrases of varying complexity and sneaky 1- and 2-letter word content. I think my favourite is nu age bee of irony.

The poster in Peter’s room reads, “Challenger Mission 11 June 28 1984″ – in our universe, the space shuttle Challenger was lost during mission 10 in 1986.

The non-science of Fringe: Momentum Deferred

Fringe: Season 2: Episode 4: “Momentum Deferred”

Physics is a bitch.

“Are you Olivia Dunham?” Shapeshifting cyborgs from the future another dimension start combing the area for mercury and frozen heads. The usual impossibilities aside, this episode was refreshingly easy to watch.

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

Random thoughts

No, you cannot gain the memories or experience of things that you eat – if you could, all meat-eaters would start lusting after fields of grass and become wary of men in overalls. It’s possible that Walter’s worms contained some psychoactive material, like the Colorado river toads from season one.

If I were faced with bodies bleeding mercury, I wouldn’t have handled them as casually as Walter did – examination in an unventilated room without masks? Crazy.

I’m sure that the parallels to Terminator 2 here have passed no-one by, in fact the T-1000’s “mimetic polyalloy” might have been a little more believable than mercury. I have high hopes for someone saying, “Come with me if you want to live,” in a future episode.

Nina fluffs the Pauli exclusion principle a little – in general chemistry, it’s usually expressed as, “two identical fermions cannot have the same quantum state at the same time.” A fermion is a type of particle (common examples include protons, neutrons and electrons), and a quantum state is a collection of properties that completely describe said particle. This can be extended into a general statement about matter (which is mostly made up of fermions), but it would go something like, “no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time with the same energy.” Physics is a bitch, eh?