Science Geekism!

[teyla]

So, I've been wondering about the physiology of Time Lords.

We all know they're different somehow. For starters, there's the two hearts. Then there's all these acrobatics the Doctor keeps performing where radiation is concerned. How exactly does that organism work?

I'm gonna try and find a hypothesis. I can only base it on New Who, because I haven't seen the rest. If I find that this is fun, I might add to it as soon as I've watched classic Who.


Right, first of all, I went through my memories of the episodes and listed all the injuries the Doctor suffered during the last three seasons.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances:
The Doctor tells Rose that he burned his hand, but that the nanites repaired it. Only documentation of a lasting injury.

Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways
The Doctor absorbs the Time Vortex. It kills him, he regenerates.

The Christmas Invasion
The Doctor suffers from what I'll call Post Regeneration Syndrome, PRS. Shouldn't occur, the change "has gone a bit wrong". He mentions a neuron implosion, which is eventually cured by tea ("Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses."). He keeps expelling energy in yellowish swirly clouds. Loses consciousness a lot. Cure apparently includes sleeping a specific amount of time. Poor health condition leads to one of the hearts stopping.

New Earth
The Doctor loses consciousness after inhaling some sort of chemical(?).

The Idiot's Lantern
Loses consciousness after being hit by a police man, loses consciousness after the Wire tried to suck him in.

The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
He falls from a considerable height and loses consciousness on impact (he survives the fall without a scratch, though).

Fear Her
He gets drawn into the picture of the little girl (but he is able to draw something himself. Whether the others could have done that and just didn't, or whether it's something only he could have done, is unclear.)

Smith and Jones
He absorbs a for humans deadly dose of gamma radiation and expels it without harm to himself or his environment. He gets his blood sucked out by an alien and is resuscitated via CPR. Lack of oxygen doesn't seem to harm him too much (even though he does seem worried when the facial plate of his helmet breaks in The Impossible Planet). Mentions that he got electrocuted by lightning on one of his travels.

The Shakespeare Code
One of the witches stops one of his hearts. It does affect him, although not kill him.

Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks
He gets electrocuted with a charge that would have killed a human, loses consciousness.

The Lazarus Experiment
He plays the organ, after which his hearing is temporarily affected.

42
He gets infected with sun particles(?) that, if a human is infected with them, rewrite the complete cellular organism of the host. He can hold them off longer than humans can, it does affect him, though. He can apparently withstand very cold temperatures, as well as solar radiation, for a certain amount of time.

Human Nature/The Family of Blood
He turns himself into a human. He can't do that by himself but needs a machine to do it for him.

Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
The Master is proof that Time Lords can have psychiatric issues (psychosis, schizophrenia, megalomania). The Master cancels out the Doctor's ability to regenerate and ages him - apparently, Time Lords can make one body last almost indefinitely (if they don't go absorbing the Time Vortex or stuff like that).

Right. Now, there are certain things listed that sound very human, and others that sound very alien. So, I made another table! :D

Human

Time Lord

- burns his hand, can't repair it himself - loses consciousness after inhaling unknown substance - loses consciousness after being hit by a police man - loses consciousness after the Wire tries to suck him in - loses consciousness after a fall - seems to need oxygen for something - lightning electrocutes him - loud noises affect his hearing temporarily - Time Lords can have psychiatric issues (psychoses, schizophrenia, megalomania)

- PRS: neuron implosion, can be cured by tannin and free radicals (tea), expulsion of energy, one of the hearts stops, he sleeps a lot - survives a fall that would have killed a human without a scratch - can absorb gamma radiation and expel it in a harmless form. - blood loss seems to affect him only temporarily, might be curable by CPR - lack of oxygen doesn't seem to affect him as much as humans - when one heart stops, the other one apparently is sufficient to maintain the circulation until the first heart gets restarted - extreme electrocution makes him lose consciousness, but doesn't kill him - can withstand very cold temperatures for a certain time span (10 minutes) - can withstand solar radiation for a certain time span (5 minutes) - can use technology to rewrite his organic cell structure. - can make one body last for about 900 years or more

Now, before I go and figure out big hypotheses, did I forget anything? Can you think of any occasions when the Doctor got hurt/injured or reveals stuff about his physiology which I left out?

I'll be continuing this. Not right now, though, because I gotta go to bed. I've got an exam tomorrow... blergh xP.


Oh, I almost forgot: I won't be here over the weekend! Probably. I'm visiting with a friend, and I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to spare for the intarwebz. See you Sunday at the latest!