Episode 01: A New Day In The Old Town
Episode 02: Night of Desirable Objects
Episode 03: Fracture
Episode 04: Momentum Deferred
Episode 05: Dream Logic
Episode 06: Earthling
Episode 07: Of Human Action
Episode 08: August
Episode 09: Snakehead
Episode 10: Grey Matters
Episode 11: Johari Window
Episode 12: What Lies Below

Episode 01: A New Day In The Old Town

In the opening scene of the episode two cars collide. A man, bleeding, dragging off one of the cars, but the SUV is more of a mystery. Presumably, it was guided by the agent Dunham, that is not anywhere. "Nobody saw someone leave the SUV," said FBI Agent Amy Jessup, "The doors are locked, seat belts, airbags open, but nothing suggests that there was someone at the wheel when the accident happened. ". While the mad scientist Walter Bishop and his son Peter investigate the scene, the electronic system of the car goes crazy - and suddenly the head of Dunham breaks through the windshield and lands on the floor. In the emergency room, the doctor says it could have a herniated brain, the final diagnosis of the doctor is that the wounds of Dunham "were too severe. We have not been able to restore brain function. Patients who undergo this type of trauma to the head hardly regain consciousness. ".
An important part of the tasks of neurologists includes assessing whether or not a patient has brain activity after a devastating injury to the head, says neurologist Justin Sattin in Popular Mechanics. But the analysis of the conditions of Olivia in Fringe - in particular the term "brain functions" - is vague. "I do not have a precise equivalent." He says. "Usually when something like after a head injury say that the prognosis is poor, it means that the person is unlikely to recover the ability to take care of herself in a indiperndente.". A poor prognosis has a whole spectrum of results, from people who can converse with their families but need assistance in getting into bed or use the gabinettoa those who remain in a persistent vegetative state. And then there's brain death, in which there is "a cessation of all functions of the brain and medulla oblongata, which is the part of the brain that deals with things like automatic blood pressure." Says Sattin. In this case, patients are usually attached to a ventilator that breathes for them. "When it is clear that were devastated by the trauma to the point at the neurological level, the prognosis is poor, and the Directive states that they did not want an aggressive treatment, then the medical CCURE are suspended and the respirator removed.". According to Dunham's sister, Rachel, Olivia has a statement in which he refuses to continue to live with the support of the machinery, the doctors are planning to pull it off in the morning. But when we see Dunham, is not attached to any machine. It seems, however, the sleeping beauty - an illusory vision of comatose patients common in pop culture. If the brain of Dunham was erniaro says Sattin, would have certainly been on a ventilator. "The herniation refers to a situation in which the pressure inside of the head is increased due to a trauma or a stroke, or to the addition of something that should not be there, such as a tumor or hemorrhage . "he says. "Since the brain is contained in the skull bone, there is not much extra space, and eventually the brain is deformed and squeezed in various cracks in an attempt to decompress it. Crush the brain that way endangers the life of the pazientee requires immediate intervention with drugs, mechanical ventilation, and often surgery. ". The Dunham would have to have a feeding tube, which would provide food, water and medicine. The nurses insert the tube through the nose, down the throat and into the stomach. "Being devastated to the point that we speak of death, but there are neither repiratore or tube feeding, she is just simply lying with angelic appearance - it is not a joke." Sattin says.
Obviously, if the Agent Dunham had been attached to a ventilator would not have been unable to find speaking in greek. And here's another reason why the description of the coma of Fringe, although dramatic, is not at all realistic. "The whole idea that people jump out of the coma is stupid." Says Sattin. "People heal slowly from this type of injury. But again, if you're at the point where you talk about the end of life, the idea that you defy the odds and open eyes suddenly is inconsistent. That woman had a herniation of the show was not imminent but still attached to the ventilator and then suddenly wake up normally is absurd. ".
The end result, according to Sattin, is that this type of description of the coma "does a disservice to the public" and false hope to families who have to decide what to do about their loved ones. "I think when a family has this idea that doctors can be wrong, because they have seen it on TV, and you might just wake up the next day ... this poisons the dicussione." He says. There are already enough ambiguity - their end result will be better or worse than the end of the spectrum? - Without this nonsense that you suddenly open your eyes and sit down and ask what month è.Sebbene is in a sense fun to see how far from reality, from the point of view of the people who have to deal frequently with families in this situation, it hurts that cause these unrealistic expectations. ".

Episode 02: Night of Desirable Objects

In "The Night of Desirable Objects", the agent Olivia Dunham - injured in a car accident in the last episode - he swapped his hospital gown with a gun and was rituffata action. Fringe had already toyed with the idea of ​​the genetic mutation in animals, but this week Olivia Dunham, mad scientist Walter Bishop and his son, Peter, have to do with a real mutant - and not one of the type of the X-Men. Popular Mechanics has sat down with Dr. Richard Myers of the Department of Genetics at Stanford University and president and director of the Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology to see if the mutants may exist in real life.
When Peter Bishop runs in six mysterious disappearances in the small town of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, thinks he may have found a pattern: these people might have disappeared in the same way Olivia? So to him, the mad scientist Walter and Dunham head to Lansdale to find out, and find an investigation already underway for a seventh disappearance. On the scene is found a puddle of slime that paralyzes the hand of Walter. It turns out that the substance in question contains human DNA mutated. This makes the disappearances less similar to travel in parallel universes - that's where it was Dunham, even if he can not remember - and more like a case of fringe science gone wrong.
The only point common to all the disappearances is a Dr. Hughes, who tells Dunham that could never kill anyone because he lost his wife and his son 17 years before. But when the bodies were exhumed, the child's coffin is empty - and below there is a hole dug deep into the earth.
Back in his Harvard lab, Walter determines that Mrs. Hughes was suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus, which means that it was unable to have children, because lupus has the effect of an overactive immune system that would kill the child before the end the term. Unless, of course, her husband, an expert in reproductive biology and replacement of genes - had not replaced the baby's DNA with that of other species in order to enable it to survive. After an examination of the placenta (still in the womb of Mrs. Hughes), Walter discovers that, in fact, the child was not fully human; Dr. Hughes had in fact altered the baby in the womb with the DNA of scorpion and mole. That's where the child has taken his skills to dig tunnels and paralyze their prey.
According to Myers, lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes the immune system of the affected individuals to attack its own cells. Symptoms include inflammation that is manifested in eruptions in some organs. And, it is true, lupus can affect pregnancy. "The woman with lupus who become pregnant have problems with their pregnancies." Says Myers. "Many lose their child, and in some cases autoimmunity is passed to the baby.".
But, the idea that adding DNA of different species to a human fetus may have helped is not entirely a joke, says Myers. "By making the fetus more alien, you might expect that the child's immune system attacks the foreign proteins, which would be made from the DNA of other species." He says. "It 's possible that the writer meant that the foreign genes were those which coded for immunity genes of other species, in which case I suppose you could say that could prevent autoimmune attacks. But in general, it seems to me a bit tortuous logic, at least from the biological point of view. ".
According to Myers, scientists have genetically manipulated DNA added to the fertilized ova of rat and other animals in order to better understand the derivation of genetic diseases, such as cancer, and search of care. "These manipulations include the addition of exogenous DNA - including that of other species, such as human - or, alternatively, cause an alteration in the DNA of the mouse itself." Says Myers. This makes it possible to correct a defective or mutated gene of the mouse, or even cause a mutation that leads to disease. But "to add a human gene to a mouse, or even replace a gene from a mouse with the human equivalent of the genre, does not transform the mouse into a man." Says Myers. "It can change the mouse so that a small part of its biology present human characteristics. But, realize, we and the mice we have more than 20,000 different genes, and changing one, or even a hundred, mouse genes with the human version does not come close to turn a man into a mouse. ".
Although Myers is not aware of anyone who has created human embryos with DNA altered, similiri in these experiments can be performed on a rat, he says. And a healthy child, this may be, if the foreign DNA integrated was in a position not essential. "But think of when or why such experiments would be made." Says Myers. "The embryos should be implanted in a woman, and only a small amount survive. Then you should wait for the birth of the child, if he lives, and it could go wrong, and even if the added DNA meant the correction of a mutation as sickle cell anemia. Most of us geneticists think it is too risky and should not be done, or even attempted. And 'as if the mutation would cause more problems than it would solve. ".
And just like in the mouse, add a few genes from different species to a human embryo would not take to it the characteristics of these species. Dig like a mole, for example, is a behavior due to hundreds of gene - none of which are known to us, because the behaviors are incredibly complex, and know only a small number of genes contribute to each behavior. "Says Myers. And as you add too much DNA can cause unbalanced chromosomes, add hundreds of genes mole or insect to a human embryo could kill him and do not lead to a living being, says Myers.
Put all this together, and the result is clear: there dovremi never worry about the mutant mole in part, in part scorpion, part human Fringe in real life, because it is not in the realm of possibility. "But I do not think it was completely outside the base to consider what would happen if manipolassimo extensively a human embryo, but make sure you make it able to survive." Says Myers. "For example, instead of adding just a handful of DNA from other species, most human genes if you changed slightly so as to make them similar to those of another species - if possible - you may get a human being can survive that would have some traits different from those of other beings. Would be slight differences, such as a decreased sensitivity to an infectious disease, and not drastic morphological or behavioral changes. These drastic changes it would probably be incompatible with life, but imagine creating science fiction pretty good. However, I believe that some experiments should not be done, as it would not serve to alleviate human suffering and could be dangerous, and could lead to death and / or serious disease. ".

Episode 03: Fracture

In "Fracture," Colonel Randall Gordon, known as "The Colonel", created by the bombs the U.S. military patients after their return from Iraq. Convincing by deception to inject a daily serum explosive, Gordon patients filled with a fluid explosive. When they had enough circulating serum, sent them from his target and triggered by far the substance inside them with radio waves.
The first clue on how they were produced human bombs comes from Bishop, which recreates the substance from the remains of the first human bomb and proof of a watermelon. When setting its radio transmitter on the frequency of 331.6 MHz, the watermelon explodes, "such as proximity fuses in aerial bombs during World War II," says Bishop. The reference to the Bishop of proximity fuses is remarkably apt. During the Second World War, the proximity fuses to radio waves were created in the laboratory of applied physics at Johns Hopkins University. Were attacked with bombs that emitted radar pulses of radio waves - approximately between 180 and 220 MHz - which were reflected when interacting with the target, usually warplanes, causing the explosion of the bomb. According to the website of the Naval History and Heritage Command, "which creates interference with the transmitter from place to beat a low frequency caused by the combination of the frequencies transmitted and reflected. The low frequency signal can be used to trigger an electronic switch. ".
The idea that your device radio waves of Colonel acted as a trigger for the serum by sending a low-frequency radio wave is less credible. To ensure that the serum were triggered by these waves, they should be able to receive the signals and trigger the explosion. For proximity fuses of the Second World War, the trigger would probably thyratron, a tube filled with gas which is a high-energy electrical switch. The only way to inject a similar trigger in a body would be - and we're guessing here - use more thyratons microscopic in size. According to the knowledge of Popular Mechanics, do not exist.
But the body retain fluid that has turned these people into walking bombs is even less credible than those tiny, complex starting devices. "It does not seem possible that these people are injected with a substance that is capable of exploding and bio-accumulate in their tissues at a concentration such as to allow the occurrence of that explosion." Says toxicologist Allan Mottram.
"When we talk about how the body handles chemicals and alien tend to refer to substances such as xenobiotics." Says Mottram. Xenobiotics include all foreign substances that enter the body, be they synthetic or biological, desired or not. "From the history it is clear that the xenobiotics were distributed in all tissues of the patients whereas all their cells have solidified and exploded." Says Mottram.
But in real life, this would not be possible. "The elimination begins as soon as the xenobiotic is absorbed." Says Mottram. "It takes place primarily through the kidney, but also through the gastrointestinal tract, lung and skin.". Xenobiotics may also be subject to transformation reactions in the liver. "The reactions of Phase I are typically a detoxifying process but sometimes convert non-toxic xenobiotics into toxic." Says Mottram. "The reactions of the Phase II make the molecules more hydrophilic (water soluble)." He says. "This helps them to be excreted by the kidney.".
"A body burden so massive it does not seem tolerable." He says. "These people would gravemete sick, if not death.".
But, says Mottram, this does not mean that bioaccumulation does not happen. In fact, it happens quite often - and usually "with significant adverse effects." We take nitroglycerin, for example. When this medication is administered to patients who have had a heart attack, the mitochondria in the body convert glycerol trinitrate to nitric oxide very quickly. "Let's give someone a pill (or the nistroglicerina administer intravenously), melts, produces nitric acid and dilates blood vessels, allowing blood to flow." Says Mottram. The result fast drop in blood pressure - but no explosion.
"Not much to say about why the pure liquid nitroglycerin and why instead of glycerol doctor is not." Says Mottram. "E 'explosive because it has a plug of carbon and an oxidizing agent embedded inside. The shake (and activated) and it explodes. ".
But trinitrate medicine is not explosive because it is diluted. "Let's say someone has a syringe of pure nitrate - which could explode." Says Mottram. "But if you inject it into a vein, will be diluted fairly quickly, and then the oxidant source is not close to the plug of carbon." He says. "You may inject into a body enough nitroglycerin do explode, but the person would die long before reaching that point for a variety of reasons.".
Although the serum of Fringe was nitroglycerin, "another criticism is that the body metabolizes quickly nitroglycerin into nitric oxide." Says Mottram. "So there is no accumulation. The concentration of nitroglycerine explosive is the 100%, or one hundred grams per hundred milliliters, and is not tolerated by the human body. In therapy we use the maximum concentration of five milligrams per milliliter. ".

Episode 04: Momentum Deferred

In "Momentum Deferred" appears in a particular mixture back-memory (main ingredient: worms) that Dr. Walter Bishop mounts to recover the lost memories of Olivia Dunham about his meeting with William Bell in the other world, the director of Massive Dynamic.
Bishop said that in a previous experiment with the cryptic ex-partner Dr. Bell, the flatworms were able to transfer their memories to other worms through digestion. Drinking milkshake with worms, Dunham should, according to Bishop, begin to remember the details of his memory in white. It goes without saying that an effective remedy as this could mean big things for neuroscience, but Carmela Tartaglia University of California, San Francisco Memory and Aging Center tells Popular Mechanics that it is pure invention. "There are mixtures that restore brain functions. I do not know what to show on the show, but nothing has been scientifically shown to help. "
Following in the vein of memory retrieval, the Fringe team picks up Rebecca Kidner, a former Bishop of guinea pig, which allows him to fill it with hallucinogens (LSD likely - a trick that we have already seen) in an attempt to recover his memories of a some bad shape-shifter - an unconventional treatment, to say the least.
"Much of what is done in the rehabilitation of brain damage has to do with occupational therapy, giving people some tricks to remember better." Says Tartaglia. These tricks. he says, include mundane tools such as diaries or PDAs, which help to regulate the mind. However the actual recovery, can vary. Tartaglia said that the results depend on the extent of brain damage, the patient's age or other problems associated with memory loss. The drugs are used in patients who are severely damaged, he says, but they help only with the push of memory: a catalyst to help the treatment.
However, experiments on Kidner generally appear to be unsuccessful (although its funny gestures on acid were fun to watch), the Dunham finally manages to catch a glimpse of her forgotten past, stimulated by the tolling of a bell. Although it was not explained why the sound causes the recovery of the memory of Dunham, this could be a classic symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. Those who suffer from PTSD may relive traumatic events when their memory is triggered by a familiar scene, from situations, smells, emotions, or, as in the case of the agent Dunahm, sounds.
Since there are so many causes of memory loss due to injury or disease, it is difficult to say when the patient recovers (and if it will completely). Tartaglia said that when it comes from an injury, it all comes down to consciousness of the patient during the incident. "The longer the period of loss of consciousness, the longer the period of memory loss." He says. "Even a brief loss of consciousness can lead to a loss of memory, usually limited to short periods of time around the accident.".

Episode 05: Dream Logic

While the mad scientist Walter Bishop and his son Peter they settle into their new two-bedroom apartment in Boston in the opening scene of "Dream Logic" - Walter would rather sleep on the couch because "the kitchen is just thirteen steps!" - Three thousand miles to the west, in Seattle, Greg Leeder is seeing things. More specifically, all of his colleagues seem to be demons - and his boss with big horns and a grotesque face, is their leader. Greg randella readily to death the poor devil with his briefcase. At the hospital, Greg explains FBI agent Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop that it was as if he were in a dream. Then what appears to be a hit, and his hair turns white, and dies. The cause? Acute fatigue, according to Walter Bishop.
Greg, it turns out, was sleepwalking. So he enrolled in a study (always a mistake in Fringe) directed by Dr. Nayak Laxmeesh, that tested the effectiveness of brain-computer interface chips implanted in the thalamus. The chip, which is connected with a remote computer, monitored the brain waves and stimulated the thalamus to induce a deeper sleep. Nayak says its chip took care of all disorders of REM sleep. Through an experiment out of the ordinary which includes a network EEG, a neurostimulator and an FBI agent sent drugged to babysit while Dunham and Peter remain in Seattle to investigate, Walter finds that the BCI is transmitting all sensory information that run through the thalamus of a patient, including colors, sounds and images - and that the chip can really induce an awake patient in a state similar to the dream. The aim is not mind control, as theorized by Peter, but rather steal dreams. "A man who comes into contact with this drug - according to my estimates, the man he would become a slave." Says Walter.
Although they may seem like something of science fiction, the BCI exist, and have been used on humans, says Dr. David Carley. "For example, the brain stimulating electrodes were used to treat epilepsy incurable." Says Carley. "However, the BCI were not used for groped to control sleep cycles, and the regulation of sleep cycles involves mechanisms that go far beyond the thalamus.".
For more, says Carley, stimulation of the thalamus does not necessarily lead to a deeper sleep. "It 'was recently shown that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the cerebral cortex can indeed produce EEG signs of deep sleep." Says Carley. "And the TMS is a species of BCI that does not require even the system of electrodes.". Scientists believe that the BCI can be used to monitor the activity of shots that do not respond to drugs, to control prosthetic limbs or other devices (the winner of the Breakthrough Award winner John Donoghue is working on a similar chip) and for stimulation direct sensory cortex to help blind people to use artificial sensors.
While BCI send (or stimulate) and receive (or record) information, the idea that could be used to facilitate the direct transfer of understandable information from the brain of a person to that of another "is not currently possible," says Carley. "It is not feasible to use a BCI to" read "directly thoughts or dream of another person, either by recording from the thalamus than from any other area. Moreover, the activity in the thalamus constitutes only a very small part of the conception associated with sleep that brings dreams. Certainly a thalamic system would not detect every piece of salient activity during REM sleep. ".
The idea that someone could steal dreams is pure nonsense - as well as the idea of ​​Walter that because of the transfer process, the brain can not recharge, leading to death from exhaustion. "Although the thalamus was actually disconnected from the bark during the dream, this would not prevent the brain to recharge." Says Carley. "They have been conducted many long-term experiments in which human subjects or animals are selectively deprived of REM sleep for weeks at a time without major harmful consequences, and certainly no death. In fact, many common antidepressants are very effective in suppressing the REM stage of sleep, and some patients do not die for this loss. ".
In Fringe chips have the ability to "induce a dreamlike state while you are awake," causing the chip in patients who have hallucinations, feelings of paranoia and inability to determine what is real. This "is not even remotely possible," says Carley. But "there is a phenomenon known as lucid dream, in which the subject is in a REM state, but becomes aware that he is dreaming and tries to" control "the course of his dreams through a conscious effort. The existence of lucid dreaming is not fully accepted in the science of sleep. ".
The end result is that we have to watch our backs from sleepwalkers killers, whether they have a BCI implanted. As Peter (correctly) says, sleepwalkers typically are not violent. Neither remember their experience. "This compoertamento is more common in children, and often exceed their own sleepwalking in a natural way." Says Carley. "The REM sleep behavior disorders may be more problematic. Normally, REM sleep is the time of dreaming active, in which the brain is very active, but the body is paralyzed. This prevents the body to stage the scenariodel dream. In behavioral disorder of REM sleep, laparalisi does not occur, and the body responds to the movement signals from the brain. Again, the individual is not aware on a conscious level of its physical behavior in this state, but occasionally violent actions have been attributed to this disorder. ".

Episode 06: Earthling

"Earthling" begins with a husband who comes home to surprise his wife on the anniversary of the wedding, only to be killed by a shadow ghost. A note that reads "I know you like surprises ..." waits for his wife to come home, but when she does, he is no longer in great shape. When she gives him a nudge in what is still haunting her husband, he crumbles to ashes. Signal for the scream - and the arrival on the scene of the Fringe team.
Although the mad scientist Walter Bishop, his son / guardian Peter and FBI agent Olivia Dunham are puzzled about what could have turned an otherwise healthy man to ashes, the agent Agent Phillip Broyles has already seen this before paranormal phenomenon. It 'an unsolved case dating back four years ago (he has a personal connection with this case - he was obsessed to the point that his wife left him). Apparently, the suspected killer had needed dela Broyles and his team to solve a puzzle molecular stated that the suspect "could have stopped all this." Broyles was not able to solve the model, and there were five unexplained "deaths in oilvere" as a result. The only clue: all the victims had visited a hospital in the day that had been killed.
While the shadow prowls in the rooms of an area of ​​the hospital, the Bishop examine the remains of the first victim in the laboratory of Walter, discovering that the pile of ash has radiation of any kind. Which is odd, because, as Walter points out, there are radiation in every living organism on Earth. Meanwhile at the hospital, another victim is "pulverized". After the clips appear in the shadow of the hospital security camera, we learn that the shadow needs to survive radiation, and our suspicion assumes the identity of a Russian on the run who had kidnapped his brother cosmonaut from a Russian laboratory after he had returned from a mission in a coma. The shadow is probably something that has acquired the cosmonaut in space, where radiation levels are much higher than on land.
However, there are no known living organisms that extract or feed on radiation, says expert Andrew Karam of the Rochester Institute of Technology. "Yes, radiation levels are higher in space," says Karam, "Yes, we try to protect astronauts from them, but we know how to control the risks. There might be a fragment of truth in a radiation effect, but there is not much validity. "
In Fringe, scientists refer to an experiment on radiation conducted by the Russians during the Cold War, but Karam says that there have been experiments with radiation from both sides of the grid, mostly to find out what would happen to the population in event of nuclear war. And even if there were side effects, none of these were paranormal. "It turned into mutants or superheroes," says Karam.
According to the hypothesis of Fringe, the cosmonaut would have experienced some dose altering the DNA of cosmic radiation, which not only would have left him in a coma, but would make him a guest of a parasite hungry for EM radiation. But radiation do not change the DNA to the point of destroying it, says Karam. "Spezzano links in our DNA and cause cell death. Shreds the DNA to the point that no longer works. "
The real effect of too much radiation is probably a high risk of cancer - and sometimes death. "The long-term effect on health is cancer, but to cause it takes far more radiation than what people think," says Karam. The average amount of radiation exposure to human is about .35 rems per year. Karam says that it takes about 5 to 10 rems to cause something like cancer. "It 's like drowning," he says. "You can drown, but not as long as there is not enough water. A bit 'of water will not hurt you. "The same thing applies to the radiation used to obtain the X-ray "The small risk of exposure to medical radiation is largely offset by the benefits."

Episode 07: Of Human Action

The episode "Of Human Action" begins with the wail of sirens and the police who rushes to the aid of a child victim of a kidnapping. When the police surround the vehicle, the two suspects down from the car, unarmed. While one of them comes out with a prophetic "You have no idea who you're dealing with," another agent begins to fall back towards the ledge of the car park raised with a look of shock on his face. Jumps off the ledge. Another agent inexplicably begins to shoot his colleagues before turning the gun on himself.
The Fringe team arrives on the scene, and immediately Dr. Walter Bishop, the mad scientist transformed into specialist investigations, said the cause of death of two policemen "subliminal hypnosis of a violent nature." But, says his son Peter Bishop, the only Hypnosis can not force you to do anything you do not feel like it. All signs seem to point to a much higher mind control hypnosis.
Another factor of the mystery of the kidnapping / mind control is that the initial victim, Tyler Carson, is the son of a scientist at Massive Dynamic, the company founded by the mysterious ex-partner of Bishop, Dr. William Bell. The agent Olivia Dunham note the obvious: everything seems back to Massive Dynamic.
After that most people fall victim to violence mentally controlled, prepared a trap for the kidnappers of Tyler reveals that it's the same suspect to be the victim of the kidnapping, and that is what fifteen Tyler plays with the minds. Quickly, the team determines that the ability to Tyler is due to a cocktail of drugs for mind control ADD and an enhancer they say stole from an experiment that his father was leading to Massive Dynamic.
An insightful theory, but something of all this is possible? "The simple answer is no," says Steven Novella, a neurologist and co-founder of the New England Skeptical Society. "The brain does not produce enough energy to project brainwaves in this way. The skull also act as a barrier. "
Novella says that the idea of ​​projecting brain waves, even if the skull did not act as a protective barrier, follow the physical law of the square of the distance. So if the waves were radiated, with the expansion of the waves strength would become weaker. To be effective, the force of the waves at the base should be huge just to throw some effect with just a few feet away. "An increase in the activity of brain stimulation that might remotely have an effect on anything outside of the skull does not work, "he says. "The energy levels are just too too low."
Another detail rather strange about the incidents of mental control in Fringe is the fact that the victims seem fully aware while they are checked against their will. (Some are also asking for help.) Peter Bishop is taken hostage by the fifteen who, it turns out, is on a mission to find his mother, who had previously believed died in a car accident - a lie told to him by his father. When Peter is forced under control of the mind to shoot the fellow member of the Fringe team, Agent Phillip Broyles, is fully aware of not having control over his motor skills. This, he says Novella, is a completely unfounded.
"The manifestation of this type of mind-control would take place in the motor cortex," says Novella. "The control of the motor cortex and would not in your awareness. This is theoretically possible because the two are not connected. "However, Novella also notes that something like this would be extremely difficult because the person in charge would never be able to force others to perform physical tasks that seem simple - such as walking. "Coordination is a very complex mechanism, especially if it is disconnected from the control of consciousness." He says. "It 's basically implausible at every point."

Episode 08: August

The episode begins this week with the kidnapping of Christine, a student from Boston 27 years, which, before the kidnapping, he was leaving the city to study in Rome. Her kidnapper is a man who wears a suit sixties, no hair or eyebrows. The Observer.
Having knocked out the guards who were trying to save Christine with a gun that seems to shoot out waves of high energy, the Observer runs off of a car - with Christine. Agent Dunhame the Fringe team does not take long to find out who is behind the crime, since it was committed in front of passers-by. The most important question is, why?
Although puzzled, Dunham is not completely clueless. The Observer has left the scene a notebook full of a symbolic code. There is a clue to crack the code, however, and because this has already been studied. As usual, all roads seem to lead the Fringe team in the same place: Massive Dynamic. The researcher of the company admits that he has made progress with the code, but have found a test a little 'more interesting. The incision colonial and renowned silversmith Paul Revere's midnight horseman reveals a mysterious figure in the background: a Watcher. Same thing for the execution of Marie Antoinette and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Paintings of these damose historical scenes reveal the presence of observers and their ability to observe the time beyond a simple linear entity as they see humans.
Back at the lab, the right arm of Walter, Astrid, try to crack the code using a program, but there is not even a symbol of recurrence. And, as Astrid points out, "without repeated symbols, language is not possible. So how to decipher codes or unknown languages?
Deciphering codes means take advantage of information that we already have, says the linguist Rex Curry. "The Rosetta Stone presents an ancient code and helped in the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics because it contains the recording of three translations of a single passage: two inscriptions in Egyptian language - hieroglyphic and demotic - and one in greek," he says. "He opened a window into the mind of the writers of Egyptian hieroglyphs thanks to the comparison with the writings of the writers of the other language."
The Egyptians were not the only ones to use secret codes to transmit messaggi.Mary, Queen of Scots, used a system of secret encrypted code to communicate with his followers in his plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. The encryption is not used to hide the communication between two parties, but to hide its meaning. To do this, code writers should send their messages through an encryption algorithm, an encoding mechanism that can be decrypted correctly only with the use of his key.
But according to Curry, the codes have reached their maximum thanks to the millions of codes used in banking and in electronic shopping. "Coding is a tool used around the world millions of times a day by people through the computer and encryption for online transactions," he says. "It 's so simple and common that people do not think about it either. They would not be able to decipher their own codifications if they tried. "
So in this case, Fringe said well: the language requires repetition, and decipher a complex code requires some kind of key that reports to another language. For now, it seems that Astrid and her colleagues Fringe have not had any luck in revealing the mysteries hidden in the notebook Observer.

Episode 09: Snakehead

In this week, a load of bodies is pushed on the coast of Boston - all Chinese refugees, all dead - except one. When the FBI agent Olivia Dunham welcomes the mad scientist Walter Bishop and his son Peter and guardian, asks, "Have you eaten?" It 's clear that it is something that we are happy is not aired after dinner Thanksgiving.
The killers are large parasitic worms with many tentacles that emerge from the mouths of the victims. Walter and his assistant Astrid parasites carrying two feet long and seven pounds heavier to the laboratory for research. Although we have already seen the Fringe team struggling with pest before, these worms are unusually large hybrid parasites, a new species created with bioengineering starting dall'anchilostoma, and their creation and incubation in humans appear to be intentional. Walter concludes that the lymph gland pest is removed to treat patients with severe immunodeficiencies, but before the parasites need a human host to reach adult size. The Chinese refugees that had been implanted parasites served as hosts for the worms for a few weeks, before interpreting a scene of worms in the chest reminiscent of "Alien".
So the parasites can become so huge so quickly? Not according to the molecular parasitologist Peter Hotez of George Washington University School of Medicine. "Tapeworms are the largest human parasites and may become even several meters long," says Hotez. "But they are very, very thin." Even if their length is impressive, tapeworms live in the lower intestine, which means that there is no risk of asphyxiation.
However, Hotez says that asphyxia by parasites is possible, although the version of Fringe is not an accurate portrayal.
"There is an interesting parasitic disease called Halzoun where people drown," he says. The manager is the Fasciola hepatica, a fleshy flatworm found in the liver of sheep and cattle, may become long up to 3 or 4 centimeters. "If you eat raw liver from sheep or cattle infected, these fleshy strokes of luck can stick to your throat and cause choking," says Hotez. But, as also noted Hotez, the effect is quite immediate, unlike the case of Fringe where victims coexist with parasites for weeks after ingestion.
While Peter, Olivia and Agent Broyles chase the Triad, a Chinese gang that probably is behind the murders, the bank records lead us to a suburban home and a mother who is paying $ 500,000 to the Triad. But for what, exactly? A new treatment stimulating the immune system created by a Chinese herbalist from, you guessed it, parasitic worms. While the Fringe portrait of the healing power of the parasites is not completely unlikely - Hotez recognizes that some scientists are experimenting with worms to treat chronic conditions such as asthma and Crohn malattiadi - says that these studies ignore the fact that the worms are the leading cause worldwide of asthma and inflammatory diseases in the intestine. A better approach, he says, would be to look for new therapeutic molecules to help fight parasitic diseases.

Episode 10: Grey Matters

This week, the Fringe team investigates a group of mentally ill people who have mysteriously recovered their health thanks to a risky operation of neurosurgery that could probably be described as an attempt to precisely control mad science to repair the brain.
FBI agent Olivia Dunham, along with Dr. Walter Bishop and his son Peter are quick to solve one of the most beautiful plots so far: three patients who underwent the risky operation to cure their madness. All three were removed pieces of the brain - pieces that, it turns out, they were not originating in their own brain. They were plants, stolen from the brain of Walter (which, if you're watching, explains a lot). But these were not just small pieces of Walter's brain. It was three specific parts of the hippocampus that contained the answer to open the door for the other dimension.
The villain from the other side Thomas Newton is behind the systems intentional parts of the brain of Walter, an attempt to transfer the memories to other patients. Anyway, the plan of Newton has failed. The pieces should be replanted in Walter to retrieve memories.
Brain tissue can be implanted and reconnected successfully?
"You can not just transplant a piece of the brain as impianteresti a chip," says Steven Novella, clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine. "If you remove a piece of brain break all connections with him. And 'how to destroy a computer and then pile up the pieces. It would not work. "
Although surgery has made some progress with stem cell implants, Novella says it is because the stem cells are immature cells that have not yet formed complex connections with other cells. "Even then, they are not really making connections," he says. "We use chemicals that we want them to use."
And with respect to a specific localized memory in the brain? Even that is not possible, says Novella. "The memories are stored in a complex network of neurons, not in a unique place that can be recovered," he says. Although scientists can see which section of the cortex is using a person to access a certain memory during a CT scan (this section of light increases), the memories do not come simply from a single place in the brain.
Even locating the piece of brain containing specific information, keep alive this fabric would be virtually impossible. "When an organ transplant, restores blood circulation," he says. "The simple placing a mass of tissue into another body does not guarantee survival. Brain cells are very sensitive to the contribution of blood. Without blood glucose and die in a few minutes. "
But the biggest mistake of Fringe was perhaps its distortion of the hippocampus. The hippocampus stores memories in the short term, and the memories of Walter on the passage to the other dimension are stored in its long-term memory, says Novella.

Episode 11: Johari Window

In the episode on Thursday, killing three policemen and a strange boy with his face changed leads the Fringe team in the city of Edina, where the stories of sightings of a creature are something more than a mere legend.
The boy, Teddy, was pushed up by a policeman who wanted to give him a ride home from his failed escape attempt. But halfway, the face of Teddy is transformed into that of a monster deformed. Unfortunately for the agent, some other "creatures" coming to the rescue of the boy and make sure to leave no witnesses.
The boy, called the Pulse Agent Dunham's team. This works with the Sheriff of Edina, who tells him of the legends about the creatures of the place, while Walter and Astrid try to decipher the evidence thrown out by the same Walter about his involvement in the decades before.
To begin the investigation on the monster, Dr. Jeff Meldrum of the Department of Biological Sciences Idaho State University says that the legends about the creatures are generally based on real events that are interpreted by different people to explain an experience.
"The orcs are an archetype of the human frame of reference," says Meldrum. "The anthropology now recognizes that there is only one path in human life, and that there may be many types of pre-human existence."
After poking around the Fringe team leads to a confrontation with a creature armed with a rifle, Peter kills the aggressor in a confrontation duoco. But, when the body is recovered, this seems eerily human. While Walter performs tests on the corpse that still seems to turn into and out of its state monstrous, his clues lead them to a classified military experiment called "Project Elephant" that did it go horribly wrong. As a result, the entire population and its descendants have become mutated creatures are camouflaged under a strong electromagnetic pulse that alters the visual perception.
"The radiation poisoning, intentional or otherwise, can cause birth defects and mutations of all sorts in the inhabitants of the place," says Meldrum. But the magnitude of changes that are compatible with the life varies depending on the species.
Amphibians, for example, have a barometer susceptible to the environment that can take them to their physical alteration if they absorb the right chemical. Most of the time, the compound would behave as an infection in the tissue, filtering through eggs. Common types of these substances would radiattive losses, says Meldrum.
And the radiation does not have an effect only on animals. In Kerala, located on the southern tip of India, the beach is full of black sand radiative. The people who live there are exposed to a radiation dose equal to ten times that to which it is subjected on average an individual. Scientists here have found a mutation in their mitochondrial DNA, but with no visible effect. It 's more likely that the poisoning of an animal produces first physics effects or mutation.
"These things often happen to the creatures that live in the surroundings of Kerala, but are not publicized," says Meldrum. Moreover, the human DNA is hard to crack - even when it is altered, the physical changes do not always bring roots. The changes are most likely to occur in less complex animals, such as amphibians, which are heavily influenced by their habitat. All this to say that the human mutation caused meddling military Fringe is complete fiction.

Episode 12: What Lies Below
A strange man out of the elevator, advances in an office and collapses on the spot. The resuscitation attempts implemented by a good Samaritan are unnecessary. But his bad luck does not end there. The veins on the face of the Good Samaritan begin to stick out and seem to explode, creating a cloud of blood that is sprayed from his mouth - not a good start for a day's work.
The agents Olivia Dunham and Phillip Broyles arrive on the scene with the handyman Peter Bishop to investigate sull'insolita death. While Olivia and Peter interrogate employees, another person begins to show symptoms - bleeding from the nose, fatigue, agitation - and in a minute he too is dead.
Outside, Dr. Walter Bishop and his assistant Astrid declare that the murderess is a deadly virus and that all those still inside, Olivia and Peter included, must be quarantined. During the investigation, Walter - along with a fictionalized version of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Health - they discover that the virus is a strain of 75,000 years old freed by sample from an oil well deep ten miles. And, in true Fringe style, opens the hunt for the cure.
But the disease from the subsoil of the show is that possible? "No," says Dr. William Blattner, director of the Institute of Human Virology. "But it made for good TV." The possibility that a reappear deliver a virus from a sample that has been buried for hundreds of years is not plausible, says Blattner. "Viruses are not organisms that can survive on their own. They are obligate parasites that can grow only in living cells. "
Instead, the virus must spread through a vector, often from animals to humans through food or water, not from nonliving matter. And even if there was a dangerous amount of DNA extracted from the soil once infected, Blattner reiterates that a virus can not survive alone. "It 's just not possible that a virus can survive more than a few days or maybe even a week on the surface," he says. "So how could survive 75.000 years?"
Moreover, the parasites Fringe were not in the air. Instead it was decided to distribute them via pathogens - tiny infectious organisms that tend to stick to living things, such as skin, bloodstream or organs - these are more similar to yours than a mediocre Ebola virus cirus exterminator 75,000 years. The Ebola virus, a native of Africa, is a hemorrhagic fever that spreads quickly and causes a victim's fatal bleeding - very similar to the symptoms of patients infected Fringe.
Blattner dive that while the quarantine protocol for an Ebola-like virus used in Fringe is correct, the scope of the drama is a bit 'extreme. "The doctors go around in space suits and the gates of cellophane are just an adaptation of the fear of a doctor or a scientist to take the virus," he says. "But the virus may still sticking to your suit and then you would carry them to infect the outside."
But, says Blattner, is the exaggeration of the impact of the virus that has required the greatest creative effort. "Yes, for viruses such as Ebola there is often a high mortality rate, but a number of people developing immunity survives."
Finally, Blattner assures us that there is no procedure for the eradication of level are you - a plan to kill all the infected to prevent further spread of infection. Instead, there are only quarantine and patience.