14 Things That Happen In Movies That Are Scientifically Improbable
4. Alien Lemsip
"We will use Earth diseases to wipe out the invading aliens, their immune systems won't be able to handle them."*Aliens continue to party all over our planet with their totally different genetic make-up*"Your Labrador can't catch the common cold, what in God's name made you think it would affect an alien?""Okay, but maybe they're allergic to water...""You mean one of the most abundant substances in the universe? Get out of my office."
The idea that the common cold will kill an alien comes from the fact that when humans began to explore the globe, they were struck down by diseases that they hadn't had the chance to build up and immunity to.
The part that isn't taken into consideration in movies is that this is because we were at least contracting them from our own species. An immune system that developed on another world is likely to be as compatible with human viruses and their computers are with Earth malware.
Notable Offenders: War of the Worlds, Signs