Throughout the book, Simon uses a wide
variety of X-Files episodes as jumping-off points for discussion
of scientific topics. The discussion ranges broadly, emphasizing microbiology
and genetics but also delving into meteorite studies and other areas of
space science.
However, while a dust jacket blurb
praises the book as a "stealth vector for increasing scientific literacy,"
Simon's scientific explanations can be sloppily worded, as when she describes
the theory of punctuated equilibrium as meaning evolution occurs in "running
leaps" that "eliminate a large fraction" of a species. In fact, such leaps
occur against a backdrop of general stasis, and it's not necessarily true
that much of a species dies in the process.
Nonetheless, much of the book is entertaining
and informative, particularly when Simon sticks closely to analysis of
an X-Files episode. Her discussion of the episode "Ice" astutely
notes that an ammonia-based alien organism, transported to Alaska by meteorite,
would be unlikely to infect and kill humans; rather, it would probably
die upon its first contact with water, a substance as poisonous to it as
ammonia is to us.
Moreover, Simon evidently has had some
success in keeping The X-Files linked, however tenuously, to scientific
reality. She recounts that she dissuaded series creator Chris Carter from
his initial notion that alien viruses inside a human body would grow directly
into macroscopic sharp-clawed aliens. Viruses, she pointed out, are only
snippets of DNA; they can't plausibly grow into anything.
Rather, she pointed out, alien viruses
would take over human cells and put them on a new development pathway --
ultimately leading to humans that look and act like macroscopic, sharp-clawed
aliens. Carter agreed, and the changes were incorporated into the script.
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