Poll: Stop raping science please

[w-Jinksy]

So after being forced to watch some show by the name of eleventh hour i find myself severly shocked and confused.

To clarify my point the show is about a scientist who works with the fbos or some other shiz, and he goes around solving sciencey stuff that isnt sciencey at all and is absoloute bollocks.

point in case from one episode about people getting cancer they were talking about heavy water now hold on kids heres where the crazy gets thick, as they talk the sciencey guy explains how heavy water is water with an extra mollecule therefore (obviously) making it radioactive and able to explode, yup crazy indeed i had always though and extra mollecule would just mean theres more water also i dont know about you all but from where i come frome heavy water is another way of describing hard water.(also the water was dropped and blew up a house incedentally the water didnt explode going off a waterfall)

Another case in point from the same show but a different episode, people were randomly going blind and a doctor literally said this "in all my years i have never seen a case like this and there is no medical record for it!" then the science guy goes and says its mercury poisoning, now im sorry but youve got to be some sort of piss poor doctor not to notice mercury poisoning.

theres a metric fuck-tonne of shows that look at science like this and i was wondering if these shows get to you people as much as it does me. ( CSI is also another candidate of this especially miami, vegas isnt as bad.)

 

[Vrex360]

Often when it's clearly meant to not be taken seriously then I think you can just forgive it, or use that as something to ridicule.
One thing that is unforgivable though is making serious biology errors when you try to recreate extinct animals for your film.

 

[Nitpicker of the Wastes]

You *do* know that all the high-tech crap on CSI is either purchased from or donated by the real CSIs, right?

 

[Lukeje]

point in case from one episode about people getting cancer they were talking about heavy water now hold on kids heres where the crazy gets thick, as they talk the sciencey guy explains how heavy water is water with an extra mollecule therefore (obviously) making it radioactive and able to explode, yup crazy indeed i had always though and extra mollecule would just mean theres more water also i dont know about you all but from where i come frome heavy water is another way of describing hard water.(also the water was dropped and blew up a house incedentally the water didnt explode going off a waterfall)

Heavy water is not hard water; it's D[sub]2[/sub]O. Water with two extra neutrons. Though it's not radioactive (T[sub]2[/sub]O is however a different story).

Another case in point from the same show but a different episode, people were randomly going blind and a doctor literally said this "in all my years i have never seen a case like this and there is no medical record for it!" then the science guy goes and says its mercury poisoning, now im sorry but youve got to be some sort of piss poor doctor not to notice mercury poisoning.

Not really; Hg poisoning is very rare.

theres a metric fuck-tonne of shows that look at science like this and i was wondering if these shows get to you people as much as it does me. ( CSI is also another candidate of this especially miami, vegas isnt as bad.)

My favourite cringe-worthy moment was in the first season of CSI: Miami, where one of the characters refers to heptan-2-one as "Heptan-2-1". It's one (pronouced 'own') god-damn it; it's a ketone.

Edit:

You *do* know that all the high-tech crap on CSI is either purchased from or donated by the real CSIs, right?

Have you ever sat waiting for a GC-MS to finish? It doesn't take 30 seconds like it seems to on these shows... (sorry... another pet peeve).

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Yes. I like a healthy dose of realism in cartoons even.

No really, Up pissed me off because the old guy could carry a bastard sword.


THOSE THINGS ARE HEAVY!

 

[Arachon]

You *do* know that all the high-tech crap on CSI is either purchased from or donated by the real CSIs, right?

You got sources on that? After watching CSI Miami, I feel very sceptical that this is the case.

 

[Alex_P]

See WP: Heavy water: Effect on biological systems [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water#Effect_on_biological_systems].

THOSE THINGS ARE HEAVY!

Not as heavy as D&D makes them out to be. Average weight around 3 lbs. And the guy does struggle.

-- Alex

 

[vamp rocks]

You *do* know that all the high-tech crap on CSI is either purchased from or donated by the real CSIs, right?

maybe so.... but the average police precinct does not have to budget to afford half of the tech... and would not get the results nearly as fast

 

[Amnestic]

If you watch CSI:Miami for the science, you're doing it wrong. At this point it's more like a parody if itself. Look at it more like a comedic caricature of what real CSIs are like, because if you start taking it seriously your brain will start to get mad at you.

New York and Vegas are generally better, though still not perfect (what show ever is?)

 

[Pimppeter2]

I like that show!

So what if its dumb, its just fun to watch

 

[New Troll]

I like Eleventh Hour, but prefered CSI (Vegas) and especialy prefer The Mentalist. Also loved X-Files, though I'm not as big of a fan of The Fringe. What do all these shows have in common? I don't take any of them seriously. They're only there for my amusement.

If I want seriousness, I'll watch MythBusters! How ironic.

 

[wewontdie11]

For me the show is CSI. I know there will be some differences between the American and English departments, but that show is so completely off the mark it's not funny.

I did a short stint interning in a forensics lab in my area and it's nothing like the programme at all as any sane person who had watched the show would expect. It was an exact cross between a police station and science lab with people of a perpendicular nature, half cop, half scientist. Just like I anticipated.

There was no gun toting, one liner spewing, sun-glasses removing, ginger guy who could pin a case on a tenuously acquired suspect using one single piece of evidence and a crazy theory.

Although that would have definitely been cool...

 

[Desaari]

heavy water is water with an extra mollecule therefore (obviously) making it radioactive and able to explode, yup crazy indeed i had always though and extra mollecule would just mean theres more water also i dont know about you all but from where i come frome heavy water is another way of describing hard water.(also the water was dropped and blew up a house incedentally the water didnt explode going off a waterfall)

Heavy water is the name used to describe a compound similar to water, but with an increased amount of an isotope of hydrogen called deuterium; it does not mean 2 molecules of water together or reacted with each other. In fact I remember a story about its presence in Telemark during WWII as part of research into nuclear weapons on the Nazi's part on a history programme.

 

[Nitpicker of the Wastes]

You *do* know that all the high-tech crap on CSI is either purchased from or donated by the real CSIs, right?

You got sources on that? After watching CSI Miami, I feel very sceptical that this is the case.

You have to remember, that's daytime TV. They do embelish a smidge, with high-resolution screens and crap, but all of the dedicated crime gear, DNA stuff, trace evidence, blah blah blah, IS real.

 

[Azraellod]

i do dislike how people mess with science like that. it screws with your views on actual science, especially since on a lot of shows most of it is true, and some of it is made up.

stop making stuff up. most of the time real science is far more interesting to watch.

 

[stabnex]

Blech, reminds me of Die Hard 4

 

[Lukeje]

Ooh... and of course the low resolution images that can be manipulated into a higher resolution to always give the perpetrator's face...

 

[chefassassin2]

I know they completely fabricate science, but it's still fun to watch, I think. I'm not gonna let it bug me, it's entertainment. as a chef, I've seen countless portrayals of kitchens on t.v. and in the movies, and it's always done for entertainment value. There was even a couple episodes of C.S.I that dealt with restaurants, and facts about food ewre fudged around. Didn't bother me a bit. One of the closest representations to what a real kitchen is like mwas a show cancelled after four or five episodes, Kitchen Confidential. The other closest is actually "Ratatouille" of all movies. Entertainment industries take liberties to make their shows interesting and fun to watch. If they stayed 100% true to the science, there'd be no show.

EDIT-The only thing that ever gets to me is the way the actors portraying chefs and cook hold their knives. They hold them wrong, no professional cook ever cuts the way they do. Then it only bugs me because I think, "That moron's gonna cut himself. Soon."

 

[Clashero]

Well theres a reason its called fiction, meaning you arent supposed to take what they show/do as realistic or plausible.

Either way they have to spice things up, excessive realism tends to bore people. Imagine if cop dramas had entire episodes dedicated to paper work?

Exactly. You've got no idea what a big deal it is to lose your gun if you are a policeman, whereas in TV shows their guns get lost, stolen or thrown away ALL the time.

You *do* know that all the high-tech crap on CSI is either purchased from or donated by the real CSIs, right?

Indeed, but keep in mind these things:
1) The way the department is run in the show has nothing to do with how it is in real life.
2) No lab can afford ALL of that equipment. It's just not practical.
3) They get DNA results in minutes and fingerprint scans in seconds. Allow me one second to stop laughing at the absurdity of that.