Home
# desert_storm # [userpic]

has anyone else noticed this 'error' in X Files?

December 1st, 2008 (03:59 pm)
frustrated

Mood: frustrated
Read comments Read Comments PermalinkAdd to MemoriesTell a Friend

'Use of PCR to compare DNA'

For prime example, in Christmas Carol (season 5).
Scully orders a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) to compare Emily Sim's DNA with that of her sister Melissa.
God I wanna scream at the screen.

A PCR only replicates teh DNA into substantial amounts, one small strand suddenly now has a million copies in a very short time. The actual procedure Scully uses to compare the DNA is to perform a gel electrophoresis to create the karyotype (the transparent sheets with the black lines on to represent the chromosomes). The size of the black lines are indicative of the amounts of DNA used in the original sample.



Man, I guess paying attention in Biology is a good thing, cos I understand a hell of a lot more of what is going on, medically-wise, but I also see the small errors as well....oh so slightly infurating when the same thing pops up again and again.


/rant

(any other errors that anyone has noticed? Please comment them if so...thankies!)


We have also found the wrong number for Napier's Constant was used, and also Scully writes ademine instead of adenine for the nucleotide bases translated during The Sixth Extinction

Comments

Posted by: nodazzle ([info]nodazzle)
Posted at: December 1st, 2008 05:06 am (UTC)

that's irritating.

i'm pretty sure they also got napier's constant wrong in paper clip. i can't remember the exact error... i just remember watching the episode WHILE doing calculus and working with napier's constant and then hearing scully give the wrong number.

doods. really. it's a constant. look it up.

:)

- karen

eta - ya... i looked it up... napier's constant is 2.71828 and they use the number 2.7828

Edited at 2008-12-01 05:10 am (UTC)

ReplyLink Thread
Posted by: # desert_storm # ([info]desert_storm494)
Posted at: December 15th, 2008 10:28 pm (UTC)
 scully // gun

I found another one :)

In The Sixth Extinction I, Scully is translating the Navajo symbols from the craft's surface, and she writes down the four nucleotide bases, only she spells one wrong lol. She writes cytosine (right), thymine (right), guanine (right) and ademine (wrong!). It is adenine with an 'n'.

hehe lol

ReplyLink Parent Thread
Posted by: xtoothfairy ([info]xtoothfairy)
Posted at: December 1st, 2008 12:47 pm (UTC)

You are so right! I never really payed attention to it, but you're right. PCR is not the way to determine the karyotype. I'm bummed now that I didn't figure that out myself.
I've forgotten about the exact workings of gel electrophoresis, so I'll take your word on that.

ReplyLink Thread
Posted by: # desert_storm # ([info]desert_storm494)
Posted at: December 1st, 2008 07:46 pm (UTC)

restriction enzymes cut the DNA into fragments, a positive plate is placed at the other end of the gel, while a negative plate is at the end with the DNA. DNA is negatively charged and so is drawn through the gel to the positive plate. The fragments are different sizes and so drawn through at different rates. The DNA is generally binded with luminescing markers to enable to see it clearly.

ReplyLink Parent Thread
Posted by: xtoothfairy ([info]xtoothfairy)
Posted at: December 1st, 2008 07:49 pm (UTC)

Thanks for re-teaching me! :)

ReplyLink Parent Thread
Posted by: # desert_storm # ([info]desert_storm494)
Posted at: December 15th, 2008 10:27 pm (UTC)
 scully // dear lj

I found another one :)

In The Sixth Extinction I, Scully is translating the Navajo symbols from the craft's surface, and she writes down the four nucleotide bases, only she spells one wrong lol. She writes cytosine (right), thymine (right), guanine (right) and ademine (wrong!). It is adenine with an 'n'.

hehe lol

ReplyLink Parent Thread
Read comments Read Comments

Where else can I go

Take me elsewhere

Advertisement

Customize

desert_storm494

# desert_storm #

userinfodesert_storm494
Friend Me My To-do List Memories

"I need him to teach me who I am."

"It's as if a switch has been flicked, and the person who was just a friend, is suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with..."

=========

"You gotta curse the day, it's nothing but a merciless night."

"Go on and turn the page before your lonely world collides. What's it gonna take to break the silence that's been tearing you apart?"

"Let the darkness be your salvation. Curse the day and escape the light."

"I can't go another night of telling you I'm fine when I'm dying. Forever means nothing to live without you. Together we're in heaven, apart we're in hell!"

"Don't push me, I'll fight it, it ain't gonna take me down no way."

"I've walked a slippery road with revenge in my soul, through the wind and the cold, with no protection, just one direction, Destruction."

"I paid for all of my mistakes and I'm ready to break."

"Now I can't go on, I can't even start, I have nothing left, just an empty heart."

"I'm a soldier, wounded so I must give up the fight. There's nothing more for me, lead me away, or leave me lying here."

"I was waiting so long for a miracle to come. Everyone told me to be strong, hold on and don't shed a tear."

"And the world thought I had it all, but I was waiting for you."

"Let the rain come down and wash away my tears, let it fill my soul and drown my fears. Let it shatter the walls for a new sun."

------------------

"Cos I have all these dreams in my head, of you and I together, waking in each other's arms. If only I could tell you how I feel and then I wouldn't have to sit here and think about losing you."

"Once in a lifetime you'll find someone heaven-sent for you, for a lifetime, you'll feel there's a reason to believe in a love that's meant to be! Once in a lifetime you'll find someone to share you dreams, for a lifetime our love will always set us free, forever we'll believe."

"Don't let fate make the choice for us! What about love that lasts forever?! Cos I know deep inside we will find something to give us wings."

"Shadows fill an empty heart as love is fading, all the things that we are are not saying. Can we see beyond these scars and make it to the dawn? Change the colours of the dawn, and open up to the ways you made me feel inside, the ways I loved you."

"I had a dream of the wide open prairie, I had a dream of the pale moonlit sky, I had a dream that we flew on golden wings, and we were the same, just the same, you and I."

November 2009

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30