Medical realism of movie/TV scenes thread.

[ScienceNostalgia101]

I originally was going to make it only about this NGE scene, but I think using TV as a jumping point for talking about real-life medical issues would be a worthwhile theme to repeatedly revisit, so I'd like to make this a megathread if moderators are okay with this.

 

 

 

Without giving too much away, one of these characters is a clone of a member of the other character's immediate family, but neither of them knows it yet. One would think that genetics alone would prevent that kind of attraction that... seems to be what's being portrayed here. And yet, it occurs.

 

It makes sense evolutionarily that something with risks of birth defects would generally be not sought after. But how much of this is down to ability to detect genetic similarities with someone and circumstances in life establishing their relationship as a strictly non-sexual one? Or is there something else I'm missing?

 

(Incidentally, the same episode features the guy featured in that scene being averse to the sexual advances of the purple-haired woman shown in that scene, even though she's not related, but had been his legal guardian formonths by then. Yeah, it's that kind of show. But obviously the "circumstances, not genetics, lead to this aversion" claim seems to be a recurring theme here.)

[CharonY]

1 hour ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

Without giving too much away, one of these characters is a clone of a member of the other character's immediate family, but neither of them knows it yet. One would think that genetics alone would prevent that kind of attraction that... seems to be what's being portrayed here. And yet, it occurs.

Are you thinking that we have some means to detect genetic relationship? Generally speaking- no. There a few indicators of attractions that imply that folks tend to search genetic diverse partners based on smell (which seems to correlate with genetic differences- most likely major histocompatibility complex). But as everything in biology, it is not a firm mechanism. Obviously it depends a lot on with whom you grow up with. If you are used to certain folks (and presumably their smell) you associate them with family. This is what we also observe to various degrees in a range of animals. We use familiarity cues to build relationships rather than by solely by detecting genetic divergence.

As a whole I am confused why cartoons are used to ask these types of questions, it seems a bit circumspect whereas it would be much easier to discuss whether and how precise humans are able to detect genetic relatives, for example.

[swansont]

1 hour ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

I originally was going to make it only about this NGE scene, but I think using TV as a jumping point for talking about real-life medical issues would be a worthwhile theme to repeatedly revisit, so I'd like to make this a megathread if moderators are okay with this.

!

Moderator Note

This isn’t off to a great start (as detailed below), so let’s not expand this, at least for now

 

1 hour ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

 

Without giving too much away, one of these characters is a clone of a member of the other character's immediate family, but neither of them knows it yet. One would think that genetics alone would prevent that kind of attraction that... seems to be what's being portrayed here. And yet, it occurs.

!

Moderator Note

This isn’t really a medical issue. You have cloning and a potential incest-like situation. Nothing suggesting medical treatment.

 

 

1 hour ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

 

It makes sense evolutionarily that something with risks of birth defects would generally be not sought after. But how much of this is down to ability to detect genetic similarities with someone and circumstances in life establishing their relationship as a strictly non-sexual one? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Again, not medical.

1 hour ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

 

(Incidentally, the same episode features the guy featured in that scene being averse to the sexual advances of the purple-haired woman shown in that scene, even though she's not related, but had been his legal guardian formonths by then. Yeah, it's that kind of show. But obviously the "circumstances, not genetics, lead to this aversion" claim seems to be a recurring theme here.)

Again, not medical.

[ScienceNostalgia101]

Sorry about that. Does it belong in biology instead?

 

I brought up NGE because it drew my attention to the topic in the first place. I figure it'd be better than leaving everyone wondering what my intentions were in bringing up the topic at all.

 

In any case, thanks for pointing out the lack of precise way to detect genetic relatives.

[John Cuthber]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbreeding_avoidance#Human_kin_recognition