Correcting Hollywood Science: Rise of the Planet of the Apes Edition
I don’t have a problem with screenwriters fudging scientific truths as long as they: are internally consistent with their made-up science; and manipulate the facts in the name of telling a good story.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which came out on Friday, follows the first rule and tries to follow the second (more on that later), so I’m not upset that it gets a few things wrong about gene therapy. Still, I feel it’s my duty to tell you what was not quite right, and describe a few real advances in the field.
Gene therapy is conceptually simple: researchers use stripped-down viruses as vehicles to carry a healthy gene into cells to fix or replace a broken one. Since its clinical debut in 1990, the approach has cured a handful individuals of rare immune disorders and congenital forms of blindness.
In Apes, James Franco plays an earnest scientist who injects a gene therapy into his father’s bloodstream to try to cure his Alzheimer’s.
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