Putting the Science in Fiction by Dan Koboldt

It’s true that exposure things like radiation, carcinogens, and some classes of viruses can cause genetic mutations. In other words, eye color, like most physical traits, is not a good paternity test.Īnother common myth is the idea of a “advantageous” mutation that changes an ordinary person into a superhero. People with blue eyes can have brown-eyed children and vice-versa. It doesn’t always follow predictable inheritance patterns, either. Eye color is a spectrum, and appears to be influenced by at least 15 different genes. While it’s true that blood relatives often resemble one another, most physical traits that we think of as “genetic” are influenced by multiple genes and environmental factors. Having similar eyes doesn’t make two people related. It’s a great song but also not very realistic.

“You can imagine his surprise,” the song goes, “when he saw his own eyes.” Years later, they run into each other and she’s got a child. A woman has a one-night stand with a young man who apparently is hitchhiking.

The rock song “All I Wanna Do” by Heart is a great example. dominant and recessive) fashion and can predict family relationships. One frequent myth is the idea that physical traits like (like eye color) are inherited in classic Mendelian (i.e. I’ve worked as a genetics researcher for fifteen years, and it surprises me at how often people get this stuff wrong. Fortunately, Dan Koboldt is on the case, with his book Putting the Science in Fiction.Ī few years ago, I wrote an article for Apex Magazine called “Eye-based Paternity Testing and Other Human Genetics Myths,” mostly because I was irritated at how frequently I encountered misconceptions about genetic inheritance in books, television, movies, and other media. Science Fiction writers love science, but we don’t always get the science we already know 100% correct.

Putting the Science in Fiction by Dan Koboldt