The Superhero in the Alley - S1-E12
Factual error: At Warren's funeral, Booth places his marksmanship medal on the casket. The medal shown is an LAPD Sharpshooter qualification medal, easily identifiable by the "Los Angeles Police Dept." text on the medal. Booth is a U.S. Army veteran, and Army marksmanship badges are completely different; and since, as far as the series establishes, he was never an LAPD officer. (00:40:15)
Seeley Booth: [Gives Temperance a gun.] This is only for self-defence.
Dr. Temperance Brennan: What part do I aim for?
Seeley Booth: Any part that isn't me.
Trivia: At around 5 mins 11 seconds into the episode, Vincent Nigel-Murrey and Dr. Saroyan are discussing the bones on the forensic platform. In the background of a shot of Vincent, the x-ray on the screen is of Homer Simpson's head in the middle of the screen, instead of a real human skull.
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)
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.
It's fictitious. Even in 2005. Even in 2025. There is some data that links certain ethnicities to be able to produce different sounds easier/better due to morphology, bone structure, elevation, etc., but no data has shown any 1:1 relationships to any specific group as human groups overlap over time extensively. Certainly, you wouldn't be able to determine their native language due to a small bone formation in the mouth.