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What do scientists think about movies like this? spoilers


I'm baffled by movies that get lab procedures so very wrong. Of course, writers mess up every profession, including my own, history. But it's so galling to me that these screen writers have, apparently, never even taken high school chemistry.

And I am not talking mistakes with the SCIENCE, like red blood cells having DNA or the sun shooting out solar flares that destroy the planet. I'm talking lab procedures and the scientific method in general. Every movie with scientists shows them eating and drinking in a lab environment, for example.

No scientist would play so fast-and-loose with the law, because their results, when published, would be entirely dismissed by the scientific community no matter how promising they are. There would be no way to hide factors like who the women were who were implanted with embryos (kidnapped illegal immigrants), and where the DNA came from.

The main character, Dr. Gabriel, also could not do her job without entire disclosure, so nothing could be hidden from her (in "real life"). In "real life," no project could get far without regular peer review, even if the funding source were private and large enough that there would be no public review. Does your average American really have so little an idea about how scientific research, and any sort of academic research, takes place?

I know that "real life" and movies often diverge, but I see these basic mistakes as a sign of how American education has gone down the toilet, and how movie-makers insult your average viewer with any degree of intelligence.

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"--Pres. Merkin Muffley

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