The Ghost in the Machine - S8-E9
Other mistake: Bones states she doesn't like to make assumptions in sex based on just the skull. However this is something she has done from the start. (00:01:10)
Bones (2005)
1 mistake in The Ghost in the Machine
Dr. Temperance Brennan: What exactly am I supposed to be squinting at?
Seeley Booth: It's like pornography. You'll know it when you see it.
Trivia: When Max and Temperence go out to lunch with Temperence's cousin Margaret, Max comments that the pair are "practically sisters," and later when Margaret meets Booth, Booth asks if she is Bones' sister. The actress playing Margaret is actually Emily Deschanel's sister, Zooey.
Question: When Doctor Brennan is examining the victim's skull, she states that a "straight suture across the palatine bone" indicates that the victim was a native Japanese speaker. I've studied linguistics, but I've never heard of a person's native language actually affecting their anatomy. So, for example: would a person of Japanese heritage who was born and raised in the US and spoke only English be distinguishable from a person who grew up in Japan and spoke only Japanese, purely by their palatine bones? (00:06:10)
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Answer: Since the palatine bone is a bone that helps form the mouth it has a lot to do with speaking. The shape of it differs a lot depending on your ethnic background. I would guess that they, in the show, meant that the person's bone tells that they were Japanese and that it was "made for the purpose of speaking Japanese." That's what I'd assume anyway. I've studied molecular biology though, so I'm not an expert on bones.