So, another TV episode addressed ionizing radiation.  It, of course, got everything absolutely wrong.

Again.

A woman’s health checkup showed her as normal and healthy.  Two weeks later her body is discovered with advanced leukemia.   Dr. Brennan’s instant, genius theory?  The victim absorbed between 1,000 and 5,000 rem of radiation. 

I give you my solemn word:  get 5,000 rem (50 Gy) within a two-week period, and thou shalt not die of leukemia.  If the exposure was spread evenly, you’d most likely die of gastrointestinal failure within a week or so.  Get it all at once, you’ll probably die of cardiovascular failure in a day or two.  The most radiosensitive people could even suffer nervous system collapse and die in a few hours. 

Regardless, leukemia will not be the problem.

There was also a scene as useless as it was stupid.  They think they’ve found a contaminated chair, yet couldn’t detect radiation on it.  Hodgins figured out that a parent isotope must have decayed into daughter products, without naming any isotopes involved.  What bearing does this have on anything?  Not a bit.  No contribution to the story whatsoever.  But “parent isotope” and “daughter product” are buzz words, and will make you seem knowledgeable… if used correctly.        

This is two acute doses of radio-stupidity within a very short span.  The next one will probably kill my interest in Bones entirely, due to collapse of the SD system.