The Science of Doctor Who (Dr Who) [Hardcover]

Doctor Who began in 1963. His journeys have shown us alien worlds, strange lifeforms, futuristic technology and mindbending cosmic phenomena.

The breadth and imagination of the Doctor's adventures have made the show
one of science fiction's truly monumental success stories. BBC Focus Editor
Paul Parsons explains the scientific reality behind the fiction.

Discover:

- Why time travel isn't ruled out by the laws of physics
- The real K-9 - the robot assistant for space travellers built by NASA
- How genetic engineering is being used to breed Dalek-like designer
lifeforms
- Why before long we could all be regenerating like a Time Lord.
- The medical truth about the Doctor's two hearts, and the real creature
with five

With style and exuberance The Science of Doctor Who brings the very latest
scientific thinking down to Earth.

Arthur C. Clarke
is the visionary grandmaster of 20th and 21st century Science Fiction. In a writing career than spans seven decades he has both prophesied key, world changing technologies and written Science Fiction that has become a benchmark for the genre.

Who is the Doctor?

‘I’ve already told you. I am known as the Doctor. I’m also a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous.’

‘You’re bonkers.’

‘That’s debatable.’

The Sixth Doctor and Russell, Attack of the Cybermen.

So what exactly is it you’re a doctor of, Doctor ...? The truth is we never really find out. Nor do we know the Doctor’s real name (he variously uses ‘John Smith’, ‘Dr W’ and ‘Doctor von Wer’ – wer is German for ‘who’); whether he has a family (though he did refer to his first assistant, Susan Foreman, as his granddaughter); or the real reason why he is wandering the fourth dimension in a time machine that has clearly passed its sell-by date (at different points in the show we’re told that he’s in exile from his home world, that he left to explore, and that he ran away because he was bored). We do know that he’s a 900-year-old alien from the planet Gallifrey. He’s a Time Lord – one of a race that polices the galaxy, clamping down on unlicensed time travel. He’s fond of planet Earth, has a soft spot for humans and is rather keen on cricket.

The Doctor studied at Gallifrey’s Prydonian Academy, where his specialist subject was thermodynamics. However, as his assistant Romana points out in The Ribos Operation, he only just scraped through his final exams with 51 per cent – and that was on the second attempt.

We also know that he’s rather well connected. He has met Isaac Newton – we’re told in The Pirate Planet that he dropped an apple on the great man’s head and then proceeded to explain gravity to him over dinner. He helped Shakespeare write the first draft of Hamlet, after the Bard had sprained his wrist writing sonnets. And he meets and befriends the likes of H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens.

Although initially portrayed as a tetchy old man, the Doctor soon emerges as a vastly intellectual force for good in the Universe. He fights evil and cruelty wherever he finds them, even if that means breaking the established rules or placing his own life in grave danger. Not that his life is ever in that much danger – he has the ability to cheat death himself by regenerating into a new form, his character and outlook sometimes changing as wildly as his appearance from one incarnation to the next.

The Doctor is an enigma, a paradoxical personality. He battles against evil and yet refuses to bear arms. He shows deep compassion, yet on occasion can be utterly ruthless. He preaches responsibility and yet time and again leads his human companions into the line of fire – and occasionally to their deaths.

So can science really cast any light on what it is that makes the Doctor tick? More to the point, can it explain why he has two of them ...

One mind, two hearts

At times, the human body can be something of a puzzle.

For example, why is it that we have two of some organs but only one of others, such as the heart? For instance, we have two kidneys. Neither kidney has a distinct function, beyond acting as a backup should the other fail. And the heart and the kidneys are both vital – the kidneys remove waste fluid (urine) from the blood, while the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood around the body to keep it alive. So if nature’s gone to the trouble of giving us two kidneys, then why not two hearts as well?

The Doctor does have two hearts (as do all Time Lords). As an unnamed character remarked to him in Terror of the Autons: ‘We’ve always felt that your hearts are in the right places.’ So how does the Doctor’s extra heart work? Is it just a spare? Or does it serve some deeper purpose? And could such a secondary cardiovascular system be of any benefit to humans?

In some ways, humans already have two hearts. Or rather, we have one heart that’s made up of two pumps, each of which moves blood around one of two distinct circulation systems in the body. The first is the pulmonary system, a network of blood vessels that runs through the lungs. It’s served by the heart’s right atrium and right ventricle, which work together to draw in blood from the body and send it round the lungs to oxygenate it. The freshly oxygenated blood then enters the heart’s second pump – the left atrium and left ventricle. These force the blood into the systemic circulation, where it’s carried around the whole body. Having these two pumps within the same organ means that their rhythms are easily synchronised. But if we had two separate hearts, their beating would need to be carefully monitored.