 When necessary physicians , surgeons and pathologists download information about patients ' species into their minds from " Educator tapes " , recordings of the memories of great practitioners in the appropriate species . However , in addition to medical knowledge , the educator tapes also capture the personalities of the medical experts who recorded them . Thus having an educator tape active threatens the recipient with multiple personality disorder . The new personality is from a vastly different species , often with very different behavior codes and sexual preferences , and , to make matters worse , the donors were often very dominant personalities . The mildest symptom of such conflicts is a running gag in which users of these tapes are often seen in the Sector General 's cafeteria , eating a bland @-@ looking sandwich with closed eyes . On the other hand the risk of finding members of other species sexually attractive is a serious concern . 
