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Science File Information:
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While the two agents investigate the circumstances surrounding Betts' bad habit
of dying multiple times, his old EMS partner finds out that he's still
alive. When she confronts him, he injects here with a lethal dose of potassium
chloride. Potassium chloride (KCl), as Scully notes, is an electrolyte that occurs
naturally in the body, and medically is used in regulated doses to treat potassium
and electrolyte depletion such as severe dehydration. However, in large doses, KCl
can induce hyperkalemia
and cardiac arrest. (I even read in the news that KCl is used in lethal injections
for the death penalty in some states.)
For more information on slow-release, low-dosage potassium chloride, as administered
in hospitals, check out
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/kclsr.htm.
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Mulder eventually hypothesizes that Leonard Betts is the next link in the chain of
evolution. Citing Harvard geologist Stephen J. Gould's
theory of "punctuated equilibrium" or "punctualism," Mulder explains that evolution
may not occur gradually, as once assumed, but rather in dramatic spurts caused by
extravagant mutations.
For more information on punctual equilibrium, read a dissection of a Creationist
treatise against the theory at
http://aix2.uottawa.ca/~s866370/creation.html.
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Betts, as Mulder supposes, is virtually a living cancer; an organism that can
regenerate limbs (and even molt) much like lizards and needs to consume cancerous
cells to fuel the regeneration process. Every cell in his body has activated
oncogenes, to the point where his cellular structure is metastasizing. In this
case, metastasizing means that his cancerous cells have, for all rights, permeated
his body. It must have taken one (un)lucky roll of the dice to give old Leonard
the genetic makeup that he's got; oncogenes, the genes that make cells cancerous,
are often prevented from developing by tumor suppressor and excision repair genes
in each cell. Thus, for cancer to occur in just one cell, three different genes
must malfunction simultaneously. (Special thanks to my biology major college roommate
for all his help on this one!!)
For more information on how lizards regenerate limbs, look at
http://www.basilisk.com/B/biomorphic_regeneratio_252.html.
To learn more about oncogenes and cancer, check out
http://www.hoag.org/BiologyofCancer.html.
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Cancer kills well over 34 million people each year in the United States alone.
You may want to make a stop by the
American Cancer Society's
home page to learn more about cancer and what you can do to help in the fight against
the disease.
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