Bad Science Rant - Revisited

[mylungswereaching]

A thread on this board a year or two ago laughed at the scientist in the Amazing Colossal Man who said that the heart was just one cell. I was reading a science fact article in Analog Science Fiction magazine that reminded me of that line and told me where it came from.

Muscle cells have several nucleus within one cell membrane which is called Syncytium. Heart muscles work so closely together that they are called a Functional Syncytium. They act as one giant cell.

This obscure piece of science is why pacemakers work. ACM came out in 1957. The first external pacemaker was used in 1950. The first internal pacemaker was implanted in 1958.

I'm guessing that the screen writer read some science magazine about the new gee whiz gadget, the pacemaker and remembered the line that the heart is functional syncytium and acts like a single cell. Then he or she added it as a line of dialog without explaining it, probably because he or she didn't really understand it.

Its still bad science but it could have been good if they had just added a line or two. " The heart is a functional syncytium and acts like its one cell" would have been much more accurate and sound more sciency.

[mrsphyllistorgo]

More accurate, yes, but:

A) the small kids hurling jujubes at each other and madly necking teens would never pause their activities long enough to say "Say, that was scientificely accurate! I've become inspired to go to medical school!" only to be horribly disappointed that no giant radioactivity victims exist for them to succor, and

B) we would have lost one of the all time silly lines in MST.


Say, could I take one of those home to my kids?

[mylungswereaching]

yeah, I'd miss the silly line, but the nerd in me likes technobable especially when its kinda accurate.

You have a point. Very few kids care about science even when they need it to pass. Why would they care about it in a movie.