Question:
I have a trivia question that I hope someone out there can answer. MyNeuroanatomy professor is an avid Star Trek fan and has posed a challengeto my class. He asks: "What Star Trek episode features individualsexperiencing global aphasia?" Global aphasia involves both receptive andexpressive language defits. In other words, an individual cannotunderstand what is being said _and_ cannot produce coherent speech. Theonly clue he has given us is that the episode is from Deep Space Nine. Since I've only seen a few episodes of this program, I have no hope offinding the answer without some help. Anyone out there familiar withthis episode?

Answer: Tell him that it was the one of the first episodes of DS9 called "Babel".The episode's plot is that O'Brien finally fixes the food replicators fromthe Cardassian Ocupation of DS9 and accidentally unleashes a virus intothe stations food (with some help from Quark). The virus was designed by2 Bajouran Dr.'s (one of whom is now dead) and Kira (infected with thevirus) must find the living one. The characters couldn't seem tocommunicate thru any form, and could just barely understand what was goingon around them. They couldn't write or talk, and had to point or use alimited form of body language to communicate. The only people who areunaffected by the virus are Quark and Odo, who near the end of the episodemust stop a docked ship from exploding.