A closer look

Sonic the Hedgehog possesses a mutated gene in humans that is literally named 'Sonic Hedgehog' (SHH) by research scientists who discovered it in 1995. This gene plays a crucial role in regulating embryonic development, meaning that actual medical professionals have to look grieving parents in the eye and explain that their child's severe developmental disorder is due to a mutation in the Sonic Hedgehog gene. A related inhibitor molecule was even named 'Robotnikinin' after Sonic's nemesis, proving that scientists are just gigantic nerds who will force their childhood nostalgia into serious medical literature regardless of the professional consequences. We live in a reality where the fastest blue rodent alive is permanently etched into the human genome lexicon