Bones Episode 4.19 The Science in the Physicist

A YOUNG MODEL struts her stuff for a post-modern fashion shoot in a vacant lot. The PHOTOGRAPHER has a brilliant idea and sends the model sprinting through a murder of crows. Unfortunately for the model, she discovers an actual murder, stumbling upon a human ear.

BOOTH and BRENNAN arrive on the scene where an FBI FORENSIC PHOTOGRAPHER has taken over the shoot. In addition to the ear, the pair finds a garbage bag filled with chunks of human remains. Brennan realizes the mass in the bag does not equal that of an entire human. She suspects they will find another bag.

At the lab, CAM, HODGINS and VINCENT NIGEL-MURRAY are now faced with two garbage bags of remains. Insect activity places death between 48 and 72 hours ago. Cam believes the victim was fed through a wood chipper. Hodgins finds flecks of gold and pearl fragments with the body. Vincent is left to empty the bags.

At the diner, Brennan and Angela eat lunch. Angela describes her aggravating life without sex. While Brennan wonders why Angela is taking Sweets' advice, Angela sees her father, BILLY F. GIBBONS, outside. Now she has a new mission: save Hodgins. Angela finds Hodgins and implores him to leave town. Her father is here to make him pay for their break-up.

At the lab, Cam updates Booth. The victim was dead before being chopped to bits and his cells have burst from inside. Frostbite can cause this. Hodgins tells Cam that what he thought was pearl was a meteorite. So the victim "was frost bitten while climbing Everest, then struck by a meteor, then dumped into a vacant lot."

At the lab, Vincent observes as Hodgins tries to recreate the impact of a meteor with a cannon. Brennan enters and informs Hodgins that NASA has no record of a meteor falling to earth when the victim died. However, there is a meteor matching the one from the body in D.C. at the Collar Institute. Hodgins is dejected when he realizes his experiment is useless. As Booth and Brennan head out of the lab, there is a huge explosion. Hodgins went ahead with it. Booth and Brennan escape just before lockdown. Cam grounds Hodgins and Vincent.

At the Collar Institute, Booth and Brennan see their meteor on display. They are met by DR. CHRISTOPHER BEAUDETTE. He guides them through the institute, detailing his research producing power from earthquakes. LANDIS COLLAR, blind and the world's expert on superconductivity, appears making clicking noises. He explains that his sonic-echo locator prototype allows him to sense his surroundings. Brennan tells Booth that Landis denied her a fellowship at the institute years ago. Landis corrects her: he denied her anthropological research. Her research was set in the past and the Collar Institute looks to the future. Booth hands Landis the meteorite fragment. Landis recognizes it as the stone from his fianc?e's engagement ring: DR. DIANE SIDMAN, Editor-in-Chief of the Collar Journal. Troubled, Landis directs Booth and Brennan to Diane's students.

Booth and Brennan question MILTON ALVAREDO at the Institute. He can't remember the last time he saw his teacher because he has chronological dyslexia. Milton can tell them about his research. He is attempting to transport pond scum from one location to another: teleportation. Dr. Sidman was going to publish his research in the Journal. Could publishing be a motive for murder? Both Brennan and Milton certainly think so.

JENNIFER KEATING, another of Diane's students, recalls that Milton and Diane argued before she disappeared but it was probably a creative exchange of ideas. Jennifer specializes in cosmogenic isotope research, a way of dating artifacts. Sadly, she knew Diane would never print her study. It looked to the past.

At the lab, Vincent and Hodgins stand over a table of bone fragments. DNA confirms this mess is Diane Sidman. An irritated Cam appears. She forbade Hodgins and Vincent to be alone without supervision. Hodgins exits and Vincent reports that a wood chipper did not cause the damage to the bone because the fractures are not evenly spaced. They are completely random. Cam theorizes that the cellular damage and fractures are related. What if the body was frozen and shattered using liquid nitrogen? Cam allows Vincent to speak with Hodgins on the matter.

At the Collar Institute, Landis accompanies Booth and Brennan to Diane's lab. Diane was a member of the Large Hadron Collider Team, the group accused of endeavoring to create a black hole and end the universe. Brennan assures Booth the chances of that happening are slim. Still, Diane had received death threats. Landis has a record of them. It comes out that Christopher Beaudette will replace Diane as Editor-in-Chief of the Collar Journal. Landis also reveals that Christopher and Diane were sleeping together. To Booth, this is critical information but Landis explains that when they married that sexual relationship would cease. Brennan sees the rationale. Booth sees it as grounds for murder.

At the FBI, SWEETS questions Christopher Beaudette. Booth and Brennan observe. Booth thinks that everyone at the Collar Institute is creepy. "If you think they're creepy then you must think I'm creepy," counters Brennan. Booth hesitates but tells Brennan she has a "creepy mode." Christopher admitted to a sexual relationship with Diane but he was never "in love" with her. Love is beneath him. Booth steps into the Interrogation Room and Christopher reveals he is also sleeping with Jennifer. Jennifer is sleeping with Milton. Diane was also sleeping with Milton. Talk about intellectual stimulation.

At the lab, a group gathers to watch Vincent and Hodgins' latest experiment. On the catwalk, Hodgins address the crowd. They plan to drop and shatter a supercooled turkey, demonstrating what happened to the victim. Below, Angela and Cam back away. Hodgins drops the turkey but it doesn't break into bits. It bounces, striking Angela in the head.

At the FBI, Brennan and Sweets interrogate DR. BRODERICK MULLINS. In analyzing the threats against Diane, Sweets thought Mullins needed to be questioned. Brennan doesn't understand why Mullins, an educated man, believes that a black hole will destroy everything. Mullins agrees the odds are slight but the stakes are high. Earth is the only planet known to sustain life. Brennan informs him that Diane Sidman is dead. Mullins is relieved.

At the lab, Cam has startling news for Brennan. The victim had a life-threatening case of leukemia. Yet, a physical two weeks ago shows that she was perfectly healthy. How did she develop cancer in a matter of days?

At the diner, Hodgins, Vincent and Sweets have lunch. As he eats, Hodgins notices Billy F. Gibbons staring at him from the street. Sweets and Vincent look and get the chills. This man is not happy. Sweets offers to talk to Gibbons on Hodgins' behalf but it's too late. He's vanished.

At the lab, Brennan examines each of the victim's bone fragments. She discovers an indentation that could be the result of a tumor. Cam says that Diane must have been exposed to steady radiation everyday to develop a tumor this large. She spent most of her time at work. They should inspect the Collar Institute.

At the Collar Institute, a Nuclear Emergency Search Team combs Diane's lab. However, they do not discover anything radioactive. Booth sits down and Brennan notices something about Diane's chair. There is a stain on the back of the chair at exactly the same level that the tumor formed on her body. Booth quickly leaps out of the cancer chair.

At the lab, Vincent shares a new finding with Cam. There are two cylindrical notches on Diane's left clavicle. They could be stab wounds. Meanwhile, Hodgins and Brennan work with the "cancer chair" at the lab. Hodgins has discovered harmless daughter isotopes on the fabric. Daughter isotopes are left behind after a radioactive isotope decays. At one point, a dangerous radioactive isotope was on this chair.

At the Collar Institute, Booth and Brennan approach Jennifer Keating's lab. Booth hears screaming from inside and readies his gun. He barges into the lab only to discover Jennifer and Milton having sex. When they back out, Jennifer and Milton continue.

At the Collar Institute, Brennan and Booth wait for Milton and Jennifer to get dressed. Booth is sure Landis will make a move on Brennan. It's the logical thing to do. However, Booth doesn't believe Landis should be moving on so fast. "Good people, they leave marks on each other. The least we can do is let them fade away naturally." Jennifer comes into the hall while Milton politely excuses himself. Booth asks to see the radioactive isotopes.

In the lab, Jennifer leads Booth and Brennan to a cabinet. She brings out the radioactive isotopes and notices several vials are missing. Unfortunately, everyone in the Institute had access to the radioactive isotopes.

On the street, Billy Gibbons plays for an appreciative crowd. Sweets approaches and tells Gibbons he wants to help with the Hodgins situation. When Gibbons brushes him off, Sweets makes the mistake of touching him on the shoulder. Gibbons gives Sweets a look that sends him on his way.

At the lab, the Squints look at one of Angela's digital recreations. Diane's skeleton broke apart at the weakest point in each bone. Brennan now sees that the victim was vibrated until the bones shattered, not dropped.

Booth drives while Brennan sits in the passenger seat. Booth believes Milton is the killer. He transports pond scum using vibration. Brennan adds that Christopher Beaudette's research involves earthquakes and Landis is working on an echo-locator. Both projects require vibration.

Back at the Institute, Booth and Brennan investigate Christopher's lab for something that could shatter a corpse. They discover a resonance chamber. Booth and Brennan step inside. The door unexpectedly slams shut. A painful sound fills the space. Brennan tries to counteract the wavelength using her voice but it's no use. She passes out. Booth pulls out his gun and shoots the door. Then he too passes out.

At the Institute, Brennan wakes an unconscious Booth. Landis heard shots and pulled the partners out of the chamber. Booth and Brennan yell, still half deaf.

At the lab, Hodgins identifies pencil lead in the bone notches. The victim was stabbed with a mechanical pencil. Vincent isn't sure he can look at a mechanical pencil the same way again.

At the diner, Angela finally speaks with her father. He explains that he warned Hodgins. Hodgins knew this was coming. Angela tells Gibbons that the break-up was mutual. Hodgins could have stopped it but she could have too. Gibbons agrees to leave Hodgins alone.

At the FBI, Booth, Brennan and Sweets face Landis, Milton and Christopher. One of them is the killer. This murder was carefully planned. The killer caused Diane Sidman's leukemia but before it could kill her, he became impatient and stabbed her with a pencil. This indicates that the murderer had a deadline. Brennan surmises it was the publishing deadline. Booth shows the group a picture of the resonance chamber. Luminol indicates there was blood in the chamber. Brennan notes that luminol reacts with pond scum. Milton is the murderer. Booth cuffs him. Landis tries to punch Milton but punches Booth instead. He then asks Brennan for her phone number. Brennan turns him down on the spot. Booth tells Brennan she is the only smart person he likes, leaving poor Sweets to wonder how Booth feels about him.

At the Founding Fathers Bar, Booth and Brennan discuss Milton's motive. Diane had agreed to publish Milton's research but only if he shared credit with her. She claimed he was using her theories to transmit his pond scum. Angela, Vincent and Sweets join the partners at the bar. Angela wonders where Hodgins is. Has anybody seen him? They all shake their heads.

Hodgins awakes in the desert. He realizes his arm is bandaged. He pulls off the gauze to reveal a tattoo of Angela's face with the inscription "Angie Forever." Hodgins sighs.