Innocent but Dead

Forensic science has once again disproved facts about the past that were assumed to be true. Cameron Todd Willingham was sentenced to death in the state of Texas for the murder of his children by means of arson, but forensic evidence has recently proven that he was completely innocent. The fire broke out on the night of December 23rd, 1991. Cameron and his children were at home, and since his family was poor, his wife went out to get the children presents from Salvation Army. The fire, now proven to be completely accidental, broke out and he awoke to the sound of his screaming children. He tried to save them but was pushed back by the intense smoke and fire. Willingham, who was later convicted of capital murder, had to be restrained and handcuffed as he continued to try to get into their room. During testimony, the prosecution convicted him of killing his children on the basis that “they were getting in the way of his drinking and dart playing”, even though there was no real evidence to go by. Only until a few weeks before his death, however, did evidence show that there was no sign of arson. Craig Bayler, a forensic scientist who was hired by private commission, said that the fire marshall who testified on Willingham’s case “seems to be wholly without any realistic understanding of fires”. Forensic scientists who examined the case recently systematically knocked down every indication that the fire was caused by arson. Unfortunately, it was too late for Mr. Willingham.


-Luke Nichols
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/opinion/01herbert.html?_r=1

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists ShowCLO

By ANDREW POLLACK

Published: August 17, 2009

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricateDNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

Dr. Frumkin is a founder of Nucleix, a company based in Tel Aviv that has developed a test to distinguish real DNA samples from fake ones that it hopes to sell to forensicslaboratories.

The planting of fabricated DNA evidence at a crime scene is only one implication of the findings. A potential invasion of personal privacy is another.

Using some of the same techniques, it may be possible to scavenge anyone’s DNA from a discarded drinking cup or cigarette butt and turn it into a saliva sample that could be submitted to a genetic testing company that measures ancestry or the risk of getting various diseases. Celebrities might have to fear “genetic paparazzi,” said Gail H. Javitt of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University.

Tania Simoncelli, science adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union, said the findings were worrisome.

“DNA is a lot easier to plant at a crime scene than fingerprints,” she said. “We’re creating a criminal justice system that is increasingly relying on this technology.”

John M. Butler, leader of the human identity testing project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said he was “impressed at how well they were able to fabricate the fake DNA profiles.” However, he added, “I think your average criminal wouldn’t be able to do something like that.”

The scientists fabricated DNA samples two ways. One required a real, if tiny, DNA sample, perhaps from a strand of hair or drinking cup. They amplified the tiny sample into a large quantity of DNA using a standard technique called whole genome amplification.

Of course, a drinking cup or piece of hair might itself be left at a crime scene to frame someone, but blood or saliva may be more believable.

The authors of the paper took blood from a woman and centrifuged it to remove the white cells, which contain DNA. To the remaining red cells they added DNA that had been amplified from a man’s hair.

Since red cells do not contain DNA, all of the genetic material in the blood sample was from the man. The authors sent it to a leading American forensics laboratory, which analyzed it as if it were a normal sample of a man’s blood.

The other technique relied on DNA profiles, stored in law enforcement databases as a series of numbers and letters corresponding to variations at 13 spots in a person’s genome.

From a pooled sample of many people’s DNA, the scientists cloned tiny DNA snippets representing the common variants at each spot, creating a library of such snippets. To prepare a DNA sample matching any profile, they just mixed the proper snippets together. They said that a library of 425 different DNA snippets would be enough to cover every conceivable profile.

Nucleix’s test to tell if a sample has been fabricated relies on the fact that amplified DNA — which would be used in either deception — is not methylated, meaning it lacks certain molecules that are attached to the DNA at specific points, usually to inactivate genes.

Infra-red helps find hidden tattoo

There is a new use for infra-red cameras that can help Forensic Scientists solve crimes. Forensic scientists look at tattoos as a way of identifying suspects in investigations, but criminals can easily have them changed or updated. Scientist at the University of Derby in England say that they can use infra-red cameras to determine if tattoos are originals or if they have been altered. Using a digital camera sensitive to infra-red, researchers can see if there are hidden layers or changes to the original tattoo deeper in the skin. In an experiment researchers were able to see that a student who had a tattoo of a butterfly on his back was actually covering up an original tattoo of an imp. With this new infra-red technology scientist will be able to find determine if there suspects were able to alter there tattoos to possibly get away with the crimes the committed.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5i00xsIi0OoXaL3y9lTo3LLfic_Iw

Scent Dogs to ID Perpetrators

Matt McCarthy
December 13, 2009
Forensics
Dogs

This article discusses the controversial method of using trained dogs in “scent line ups” to link a suspect to a crime scene. This method has come under scrutiny because of the potential for cross-contamination of scents and the dog’s perception of a human’s attention to the container that holds their scent. Most of the FBI is against this method and says dogs should only be used to find a crime scene or suspect by using scents but shouldn’t be able to pick one out of a line up. However, Thomas Litner is a FBI agent who claims this practice is useful and has been around for a long time. This method is widely used in Texas where people are currently starting lawsuits against local sheriff departments for being sentenced because of a dog scent line up.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/dogs-forensic-science-and-scent-lineups/?scp=3&sq=forensic%20science&st=cse

Crime Scene Imperfections

This article on “crime scene imperfections” was very educational and also very unsettling. This article talks about how crime investigation shows are sometimes far from the truth. The National Academy of Sciences has observed these shows and has found “various continuity errors” from the show to actual government proceedings. In addition to that, the National Academy of Sciences also discovered that the field of forensic science is “grossly deficient.”

One of the reasons for this is because many forensic labs are poorly funded and staffed with scientists who are poorly trained. The N.A.S. also said that the problem with forensic science is that there is little evidence of the accuracy and reliability of most forensic methods. Especially ones that rely on expert interpretation.

Some techniques such as “Nuclear DNA analysis” only have a miniscule likelihood of error, whereas, many other well known methods have no proof that they work consistently. Methods such as those that can identify a guilty person or link a weapon to a crime scene are those that are being called into question. It is believed that these processes can help focus an investigation but can not always provide infallible evidence of guilt. Even in fingerprint analysis, it is said that the final ruling can be biased because of an examiners knowledge of the case. These Examiners have sometimes disagreed wit their own past conclusions when viewing the prints in a different context.

In the end, the N.A.S. makes many suggestions for the improvement of forensic science but there appears to be a lot of work before it becomes a highly-respected field of science.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/opinion/21sat2.html

'Smell Of Death' Research Could Help Recover Bodies In Disasters And Solve Crimes

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090816211837.htm

In this article, it focuses on a device that can help determine the time elapsed since death of victims in natural disasters. Currently the “gold standard” in this type of recovery is a specially trained kind of dog. While they are able to locate bodies in disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes, it takes a lot of money and manpower to train them and the time since death cannot be determined. The way these dogs can find the body is the scent of at least one of thirty compounds a body releases during its death. For a more cost effective method, as well as more knowledgeable discoveries, scientists are working on a device that would work by detecting one of these thirty compounds. Not only would it be able to locate the source, but also with its ability to identify the compound in the air, they process of determining the time of death would be much more accessible. 

New Contested signs of mass cannibalism

Scientists at the University of Bordeaux 1 in France have recently discovered remains of mass cannibalism at the remains of a village now known as Herxheim. Though they say that it is difficult to confirm if there were any ritual sacrifices revolving around these deaths, but they confirm from the skeletal markings that these human beings were "butchered like animals" with markings indicated that the flesh was stripped from the bone.

Such an account is extraordinary because it represents a rare example of cannibalism amongst Neolithic humans. Previous to this finding, the only such case only existed in a French cave where six 6,000 year old skeletons were found butchered and buried alongside with the skeletons of animals.

Some evidence reported on the skeletons include incisions from primitive tools, primarily to accomplish gruesome tasks like separating the ribs from the spine. heads were also skinned, and muscles removed from the brain to best extract the skullcap. Incisions and scrapes on jaw bones indicate that tongues were also cut out. Similar markings on bones indicate the marrow being removed.

Though these pieces of evidence only support this hypothesis and don't prove it indirectly, scientists are still studying these remains.

Vitreous Humor in the Eye Helps to Establish Time of Death

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081204133857.htm

Forensic researchers from the University of Santiago have made a discovery on a new way to calculate the time of death. Although livor mortis, rigor mortis, and algor mortis are three of the known ways in which forensic scientists calculate the time of death, this new discovery can help find the time of death with an easier technique. By observing the vitreous humour, located in the eye of a dead body, scientists can predict the approximate time of death in humans. Software is being developed to make it possible to get even more specific dates, called post mortem intervals (PMI). Conclusions made from this information will help police and others involved in a crime scene come to more accurate verdicts. José Ignacio Munoz Barús, one of the authors of the study, says that the math models created to make said software easier to use are “more flexible, useful and efficient”. He also adds that previous methods, such as deterioration of DNA or biochemistry of the citreous humour, were not as effective as the ones that science research has recently provided them with. Research has proved that models such as GAM (generalized additive models) are SVM (support vector machines) are much more useful. The researchers have stated that since the 19th century and the start of forensic studies, the exact time of death has been one of the milestones in which researchers have been trying to make, and with this new method many contributions are made into reaching this goal.

Link for the Brain Article

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/health/research/03brain.html?_r=1&ref=science

Dissection Begins on Famous Brain

This article is talking about a scientific phenomenon regarding a case from 1953. Henry Molaison needed brain surgery, where his doctor removed two slug-sized chunks of brain tissue to try and prevent Molaison from continuing to suffer from seizures, which he would suffer from frequently at the young age of 26. However, the procedure was botched by the doctor performing the operation, resulting in Molaison being left completely unable to form new memories. Following Molaison's death last year at the age of 82, scientists have recently begun dissecting his brain to try and learn more about this remarkable case. During this dissection, over 2500 samples of brain tissue will be collected, all of which will be placed in a computer recording system. This will produce a "Google Earth-like map" of Mr. Molaison's brain. Scientists are hoping that this extensive study of the brain will provide a better understanding behind how memories are formed by the brain, as well as examining what happened to Mr. Molaison to cause his sudden inability to form memories.

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html?_r=1

This article is about how scientists from Israel have determined that DNA fabrication is possible. DNA ever since this new research, has been the best and most reliable way of gaining evidence and the ultimate way of determine who was where and when they were there. Scientists have created blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. Also, they showed that they could construct a sample of DNA to math a profile in the DNA database.

Dan Frunkin, the lead author of the paper published, says, “ You can just create a crime scene…a biology undergraduate can perform this procedure. Dr. Frumkin the founder of Nucleix, has developed a test that can distinguish between real DNA and fabricated DNA, and hopes to sell his idea to forensic labs.

Nucleix’s test to tell if a sample has been fabricated relies on the fact that amplified DNA is not methylated, meaning it lacks certain molecules that are attached to the DNA at specific points, usually to inactivate genes.

DNA can be fabricated from any thing from a strand of hair to marks left on a drinking cup. It is truly remarkable, that DNA, once known as the final frontier in forensics. DNA, that had sent so many people to jail, because many believed that DNA could not be faltered with, has the ability now, to be fabricated.

Science digs into Civil War sites

This article was very interesting because it told how advances in forensic science can improve archeological techniques in finding relics. This article provides examples of research on the civil war where scientists are using these new technologies to get information on the history of what happened on a field in Atlanta. It seems to have been an area where war is forgotten and a city has been built over it; however, this is not the case. Forensic scientists known informally as the “civil war CSI” are working hard to figure out what happened on the field. One of these scientists found a bullet and with new forensic technologies has been able to find out everything about this bullet. He could tell what gun it was fired from, information about the gun, whose bullet it was, where it was fired from, and even when it was fired down to the time of day. It is truly amazing what can be researched now compared to 100 years ago because back then underground radar took a truck and much manpower, now it can be put on one person’s back and carried around like a backpack.

Speech Patterns in Messages Betray a Killer

Julia Turner, a 40 years old resident of Sheffield, England informed her partner Darren Akers that she would be running late to do some shopping. As time passed Mr. Akers became restless after not hearing from Ms. Turner for so long, two days later he received a text message from Ms. Turner. The message said that she would be “Stopping at jills, back later need to sort my head out.” Mr. Akers was surprised because normally Julia would not text and he did not know anyone that had the name Jill. “Tell kids not to worry. sorting my life out. be in touch to get some things.” This was the next text message received. Mr. Akers felt that something was wrong; the police began to investigate Ms. Turner’s disappearance.

The police went to Mr. Simmerson because it was known that he and Ms. Turner were having an affair. Mr. Simmerson’s cell phone and a five page letter talking about how he wanted to kill himself and Ms. Turner were taken by the police.

John Olsson, the director of the Forensic Linguistics Institute, based in Wales, notices something through linguistic similarities between the letter, the text messages that Julie had supposedly sent, and taped excerpts from Mr. Simmerson’s interview with the police. The phrases “sorted her life out” and “head sorted out.” were mentioned in Mr. Simmerson’s interview and also in the text messages that Ms. Turner allegedly sent. Mr. Olsson analyzed immense amounts of sample language and noticed that those phrases are very rare to come up so close together.

Based on the analysis of these messaged Mr. Olsson was able to create enough evidence to convict Mr. Simmerson for Ms. Turner’s murder. In the end, Mr. Simmerson confessed to the murder and Julia Turners body was found in an oil barrel that had once been in Mr. Simmerson’s Ford Ranger. Mr. Simmerson was sentenced to life in jail.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/12file-text.html

Test Proves 'The Eyes Have It' For ID Verification

A new report by computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) demonstrates that iris recognition algorithms can maintain their accuracy, affirming their potential for large-scale identity management applications. Examples include the federal Personal Identity Verification program, cyber security, and counterterrorism.

After fingerprints, iris recognition has emerged in recent years as the second most widely supported biometric characteristic. This requires images to be captured in a standard format and prepared so that they are compact enough for a smart card and for transmission across global networks. The images also have to be identifiable by computer algorithms and interoperable with any iris-matcher product regardless of the manufacturer.

NIST established the Iris Exchange IREX program as a NIST-industry collaboration to encourage development of iris recognition algorithms operating on images conforming to the new standard. The first IREX project, IREX I, provided quantitative support to the standard by conducting the largest independently administered test of iris recognition technology to date. The test attracted 19 recognition technologies from 10 different providers.

The IREX I tests also looked at technical factors affecting users. These include speed-accuracy tradeoffs, threshold calibration, storage requirements, image quality assessment, and the effects of iris size, eyelid occlusion and pupil dilation. The test result shows that forensic applications, where image quality is sometimes degraded, can benefit from slower but more powerful algorithms.

Plans for IREX II are under way to calibrate and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of iris image quality assessment algorithms. This study will support a new international iris image quality standard by identifying specific iris image properties that are influential on recognition accuracy.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104101628.htm

Court should acquit mom of infanticide

The article “Court should acquit mom of infanticide in disgraced pathologist case: Crown” is about the story of Sherry Sherret-Robinson and how she was found guilty of smothering her baby, named Joshua, to death in 1999. She was convicted based on evidence found by Dr. Charles Smith, whose findings were not questioned because Sherret-Robinson had made comments about her depression and how she wanted to kill her child before the death occurred. However, now several cases of Dr. Smith, including this one, have been under investigation because there have been several inconsistencies. In this case, Dr. Smith concluded that there had been a skull fracture and neck hemorrhaging which is consistent with smothering.  After further review in 2006, it has been found that there was no skull fracture, and that he hemorrhaging was caused by Dr. Smith during his autopsy. Sherret-Robinson is still serving her sentence but is going to fight at a trial to clear her name in December. 

link to article: http://www.570news.com/news/national/more.jsp?content=n232739323

Case of the toxic gingerbread man

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49897/title/Case_of_the_toxic_gingerbread_man


There where Christmas ornaments that were producing a source of indoor air anomalies. These toxins contaminate shallow ground water reservoirs. The vapors from them can seep into homes as the pollutants follow beneath them. The data of the Hill Air Force base would indicate that the lone ornament, the gingerbread man, could elevate DCA concentrations in a entire house above the level that is considered safe. Products found to be admitting these toxins came from china. They DCA can harden the inexpensive plastic but that is not allowed in the US. They suspected that house hold cleaners and other consumer products where the source of the high DCA and TCE levels, but there data concluded that it came from a plastic box, filled with Christmas ornaments. They tested some paint chips, but they found little DCA. They then amputated the legs of the ginger man and they found high levels of DCA.

CRIME SCENE IMPERFECTIONS:

Next time you see one of those television crime-scene investigators crack a case with high-tech analysis, better take it with a grain of salt. The National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s most prestigious scientific organization, has surveyed the field of forensic science and found it grossly deficient.
It’s not just that many forensic laboratories are poorly funded and staffed with “experts” who are poorly trained. The more fundamental problem, according to the study, is that there is little evidence of the accuracy and reliability of most forensic methods — especially those that rely on expert interpretation.
The most thoroughly validated technique is nuclear DNA analysis, which has a minuscule likelihood of error when done right. But other well-known methods that can supposedly identify a guilty person or link a weapon or other evidence to a particular crime have no rigorous scientific proof that they work consistently.
That goes for analyses of hair, bite marks, fibers, documents, tools, firearms, shoe impressions, tire tracks, handwriting and blood spatters, among others. The analyses can help focus an investigation but can seldom provide infallible evidence of guilt.
Even fingerprint analysis depends on a subjective judgment by experts as to how closely two prints match, a conclusion that can be biased by the examiner’s knowledge of the suspect or the case. Examiners have sometimes disagreed with their own past conclusions when viewing the same prints in a different context.
The academy’s panel makes sensible suggestions for improvement, such as certification of forensic professionals, accreditation of laboratories, uniform standards for analyzing evidence and independence of the laboratories from police and prosecutors who might bias judgments. In the long run, research is needed to determine the accuracy of forensic methods. For now, judges, lawyers and juries are on notice that high-tech forensic perfection is a television fantasy, not a courtroom reality.

Test Proves 'the Eyes Have It' For ID Verification

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104101628.htm

This article talks about how the eye can be used for identity verification. Because the iris has such an intricate structure, each person’s is slightly different. For this reason, it has become the second most widely supported biometric characteristic, after fingerprints. Now, NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) is working internationally to change the recognition standards and advance the iris images. The present international standard defined three competing image formats and three compression methods. However, it has been shown that only two of the three formats have worked well, which were centering, and then cropping the iris, or centering, and then cropping and masking eyelids and eyelashes. Also, only two of the three compression methods were able to make the images small enough for transmission while retaining the quality, which were JPEG 2000 and PNG. The purpose of this is to be able to expand the use of irises for identification. Instead of just using this technology as locks, perhaps one day, this technology can be used to create an iris database that will help identify victims.

"Innocent but Dead" By BOB HERBERT

Cameron Todd Willingham is a man who was executed in Texas in 2004 for capital murder. The authorities presumed that it was arson that resulted in the death of two young children. Willingham pleaded innocent. Fire examiners noticed deep charring at the base of some of the walls and patterns of suspicious soot. The examiners were sure that someone had set the fire, and that it had to have been Willingham. The local DA said “the children were interfering with his beer drinking and dart throwing.” Willingham was in fact innocent. He remained on death row for 12 years. Gerald Hurst, a arson investigator, reviewed the evidence in the case and began shooting down every indication of arson. Unfortunately, the authorities would not give him another hearing. Willingham was executed by lethal injection on February 17, 2004. Now, this year, Craig Beyler also reviewed the case. He found that there was absolutely no scientific basis for coming to the conclusion of arson. An innocent man was killed because experts came to a conclusion without having scientific evidence. If forensic examiners were at the scene perhaps this man would not have lost his life.

A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain

People have always wondered what their dreams mean and now finally there are some answers. Scientists have been comparing their hypothesizes for what dreams are and how they work. Some scientists, such as Dr. Hobson, a psychiatrist at Harvard, has suggested that dreams are “tuning the mind for conscious awareness.” In his point of view, when people dream it is simply the body’s way of preparing the brain for the next day’s activities. Many other scientists have recognized Dr. Hobson’s reasoning and have thought it to be impressive. However, Dr. Llinás, a neurologist and physiologist at New York University, said that his idea was not the only interpretation of dreams. Dr. Llinás’ and other scientists’ studies have shown that dreams are a kind of crude test run for what the coming day may hold; it could be good; it could be bad. In way this interpretation of dreams makes the statement that dreams are a type of warning sign, for the good and bad. There are different types of dreaming and these different types of dreaming can vary a scientist’s point of view on what a dream is. There is lucid dreaming, which is a mixed state of consciousness, sleepwalking and night terrors, which are mixtures of muscle activation and non-REM sleep, and narcolepsy, which is an infringement of REM on normal daytime alertness. Although it is comforting to have some idea of what a dream is, scientists have a lot of work ahead of them before they are able to come up with a definite explanation for what a dream actually is.

Fabricated DNA Evidence

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html?_r=1

Recent studies have shown that DNA evidence collected from a crime scene might lose some of its credibility. Scientists in Israel have proven that it is possible and in fact unsettlingly easy to fabricate DNA samples at the scene of a crime. The scientists were able to fabricate both saliva and blood samples from a man who was not at the crime scene, along with reconstructing the DNA of any person within a given database. Using a drinking cup or a cigarette butt, it is possible to scrape together enough genetic material to amplify into evidence to be planted at a crime scene. Dr. Dan Frumkin, leader of the project and author of the scientific paper, stated that “You could just engineer a crime scene… any biology undergrad could perform this”. The scientists used two methods to construct fake DNA evidence: one required a small sample from an individual such as saliva from a drinking cup, then amplifying the DNA using a technique known as whole genome amplification. The other method involved taking snippets from a DNA profile database in a series of numbers and letters corresponding to the 13 places within the genome that they appear, and then cloning them.

While it is clear that not every criminal would have the resources available to him to accomplish a task such as fabricating DNA, the scientific evidence suggests that samples of DNA found at a crime scene cannot be relied on for 100% accuracy in naming the culprit. Tania Simonielli, science advisor to the American Civil Liberties Union, said that the findings were worrisome because “DNA is a lot easier to plant at a crime scene than fingerprints… We’re creating a criminal justice system that is increasingly relying on this technology”. It is clear from the evidence in this article that DNA evidence perhaps should no longer be considered the gold standard of proof in criminal investigations.

Luke Nichols

New DNA Method Makes it Easier to Trace Criminals

DNA samples often convict criminals. But many of today's forensic tests are so polluted by soil, tobacco and food remains, for example, that they can not be used. Now researchers at Lund University in Sweden, working together with the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science, SKL, have improved a critical part of the analysis process.

The first findings, published in the latest issue of the journalBiotechniques, indicate that the new method strengthens the DNA analysis so that previously negative samples yield positive and usable DNA profiles.

"The results are overwhelming. In my study I selected 32 truly difficult samples from the SKL archive, that is, with few cells, little DNA, and many so-called inhibitors, meaning lots of junk. With current methods it was impossible to get acceptable DNA profiles from any of them. But with the new method, 28 of the samples yielded more usable DNA profiles," says Johannes Hedman, an industrial doctoral candidate from SKL doing research at the Faculty of Engineering, Lund University.

Genetic information has become more and more common in forensic analyses. The analysis flow usually starts with taking a sample with a swab from a drinking glass or a blood spot, for example. The cells from the swab are then dissolved in water, and the DNA is extracted.

In forensics all over the world, much work has been done to improve the taking and handling of samples.

"The DNA analysis, on the other hand, has been something of a black box, since it is purchased as a finished product. No one has tried to improve it to be able to deal with dirty samples. But this is absolutely crucial, since the samples often have extremely small amounts of DNA. In this phase you copy certain parts of the DNA strands and then obtain a DNA profile that is unique to each person.

In the copying step, I have optimized the chemical environment and replaced a key enzyme, a so-called DNA polymerase. This yields a clearer genetic footprint, a DNA profile, to work with," explains Johannes Hedman. He has also devised a new mathematical model that makes it easy to interpret the DNA analysis.

If the copying phase is improved, stronger DNA evidence can be shown from crime scenes that today provide only partial or entirely blank DNA profiles. In other words, the chances are greater that a person can be found and linked to a particular crime.

The reason Johannes Hedman wound up at Lund is the fact that Peter Rådström, a professor of microbiological engineering, has been working since the late 1980s to improve DNA-based infection diagnostics and microbiological analyses for food. SKL was eager to find out whether these research findings could be applied to improving forensic DNA analysis.

"This collaboration opens new vistas for both SKL and Lund University, and we hope to be able to continue to work together with Peter Rådström's team. We have truly seen cross-fertilization," says Birgitta Rasmusson, research director at SKL.

“Picked From a Lineup, on a Whiff of Evidence”

L. Reetz

A man named Curvis Bickham was recently released from an eight-month jail sentence through the evidence of a dog’s sniff. After a dog-scent lineup, Bickham was convicted of a triple homicide. During a dog-scent lineup, the dogs are exposed to different items’ scents found at the crime scene and walk by a series of containers with samples from one suspect and others not involved in the crime. If the dog finds a match, he will begin barking, signaling that he has found a criminal. For some time now, FBI agencies have used dogs to help track down people involved with drugs, explosives, and other crimes.
This technique, however, does not always seem to be entirely accurate because in some cases other evidence proves something different from what the dog discovers. For instance, one man named Ronald Curtis, was jailed after a scent lineup for shoplifting when the store videos showed someone not resembling Curtis at all. In Bickham’s case, he was sent to jail for eight months because of a scent lineup until another man confessed to the crime. Both Curtis and Bickham are now filing civil lawsuits against their cases. Although dog-scent lineups do prove to be accurate in some instances, they have been wrong numerous times and thus should be used “only to corroborate other evidence.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/us/04scent.html?ref=science

Test Proves 'The Eyes Have It' For ID Verification

Scientists can now say that the iris can reveal a person’s true identity. A new report by computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reveals that iris recognition algorithms can maintain their accuracy with compact images, confirming their potential for large-scale identity management applications, such as the federal Personal Identity Verification program, cyber security and counterterrorism.

This marketplace rests on the ability of detected algorithms to process standard images from the many cameras now available. NIST scientists are working with the international biometrics community to modify iris recognition standards and to advance iris images as the global transaction in this rapidly developing field.

NIST established the Iris Exchange IREX program as a NIST-industry cooperation to encourage development of iris detected algorithms operating on images respectful to the new ISO-IEC 19794-6 standard. The first IREX project, IREX I, provided great support to the standard by performing the largest independently administered test of iris recognition technology to date. The test attracted 19 recognition technologies from 10 different providers. The image format test showed that two of the three formats performed well. These center and crop the iris, or center, crop, and mask eyelids and eyelashes.

Temporarily, plans for IREX II are under way to regulate and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of iris image quality evaluation algorithms. This study will support a new international iris image quality standard by identifying specific iris image properties that are influential on recognition accuracy.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104101628.htm

The Truth, Revealed by Bugs

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/12file-fly.html

This article is about Christine Smith, a women who disappeared and was found in a dumpster three years later. After she was found, the doctor in charge of the autopsy said he was unable to figure out the cause of death. While being interviewed, the daughter of Christine Smith said her mother died a peaceful death, most likely from natural causes. The daughter would have gotten away with it had it not been for Neal Haskell’s expert testimony. He figured out that no blowflies had been on the body which meant the dumpster story could not be true. He then figured out that coffin flies, flies that eat on flesh after initial decomposition, were on feeding on her corpse. The daughter’s story didn’t match up with the evidence and she is currently serving a life sentence for murdering her mother.

Submitted to Ed-line by M. McCarthy

Experts say landfill forensics search isn't easy: It's hard to preserve and gather clues even under the best conditions.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=4&did=1884219761&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1256822954&clientId=7184

Last Tuesday criminal investigators began looking for the missing 7-year-old girl missing since Monday from Orange Park. They began “a slow and careful search of the Chesser Island Road Landfill in Georgia” for clues to the missing girl Somer Thompson who and gone missing on Monday.
Ross Gardner, a national forensics expert based in Oklahoma, said “it's usually easy to know where to start looking, because most landfills are strictly organized into cells by location and date.” The problem is that it is very difficult to find evidance in land fill because of all of the contamination in the landfill. As Gardner said "it's kind of poke and hope,". One of the other main problems is that by the end of the day when the trash arvived it ends up being coverd by soil and compacted to prevent odors from spreading. Paul Laska, a forensic consultant in Palm City said that unless the body is sitting on top of the garge there needs to be some excavation to dig deeper into the landfill. For them this means bringing in cadavor dogs to try and sniff around to find human remains.
Once the body was found it was difficult to differentiant between trash and evidance. Lou Eliopulos said "with a scene like this, you're basically limited to the core; you're limited to the body." The lack of DNA evidance on the outside of the boday and the bruising that is on it do to all of the trash the covered the body make it very difficult to make heads or tails of whether the body was carried or dragged to the landfill or what happened to it in genral.

Evidence From Bite Marks, It Turns Out, Is Not So Elementary

Fifteen years ago, Roy Brown, a hard-drinking man with a criminal record, was convicted of stabbing, beating, biting and strangling a social worker in upstate New York. The case rested largely on one piece of forensic evidence: bite marks on the victim’s body that the prosecution’s witness, a local dentist, said matched Mr. Brown’s teeth.

On Tuesday, Mr. Brown was released from prison, after DNA testing on the saliva left by the biter proved his innocence and implicated someone else in the crime. At the time of his conviction, Mr. Brown, 46, was missing two front teeth. The bite marks, meanwhile, had six tooth imprints.

The prosecution’s expert testified that Mr. Brown could have twisted the victim’s skin to fill the gaps his missing teeth would have left on the bite mark. Despite rebuttal from the defense, whose expert said the bite marks excluded Mr. Brown, it took jurors five hours to return a guilty verdict.

What happened to Mr. Brown is hardly an aberration. Prosecutors have invoked bite-mark matches to secure convictions in numerous cases, only to see these convictions overturned when DNA or other evidence has become available.

In spite of the evolution of other forensic sciences, bite-mark analysis remains an inexact tool. A 1999 study by a member of the American Board of Forensic Odontology, a professional trade organization, found a 63 percent rate of false identifications.

Why is it, then, that bite-mark analysis remains part of the forensic arsenal? There is, experts say, a mix of ignorance on the part of jurors and defense lawyers about the evidence’s scientific shortcomings and the overzealousness of prosecutors and their expert witnesses, who are seen as too quick to validate an unproven technique.

As the pace of overturned convictions increases, however, the courts are growing more skeptical of the absolute conclusions drawn by bite-mark experts and, in turn, are becoming more receptive when defense lawyers rebut the analysis.

Lawyers, for their part, are taking steps to counter what they call the “C.S.I. effect,” when juries become overly impressed by forensic evidence. During jury selection, it is not uncommon for them to ask potential jurors about their television-watching preferences to weed out those who seem unable to separate fact from fiction.

The key, experts say, is for lawyers to know enough about the subjective components of bite-mark analysis to refute it effectively in court.

“If you say that this bite fits this person and nobody else in the world, and if you use the bite mark as the only piece of physical evidence linking an attacker to his victim, that’s not science — that’s junk,” said Dr. Richard Souviron, chief forensic odontologist at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office.

As people age, Dr. Souviron said, their jaws expand, changing the position of their teeth. Teeth can be chipped, broken or just pulled out; skin shifts when it is bitten. And, one must ask, was the victim moving? If the bite was on the chest, was the arm stretched above the head or resting next to the torso?

“There are just too many variables,” said Dr. C. Michael Bowers, author of “Forensics Dental Evidence: An Investigator’s Handbook,” published in 2004.

And there is also what David L. Faigman, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, calls the “context effect.” Because most forensic scientists learn a lot about the suspect before analyzing the bite mark, “it’s easy for them to see what they are expected to see,” Mr. Faigman said.

Experts, he added, “can basically be prepped to see a match.”

Bite marks, however, can be helpful in excluding someone as a suspect, or determining that the suspect could be the one who inflicted the bite, many experts and defense lawyers agree.

“If you limit bite-mark analysis to its accepted validity, it’s not inappropriate for an expert to say that a certain suspect is not the biter,” said Christopher Plourd, a lawyer in San Diego who has represented several suspects whose trials revolved around bite-mark evidence. “But that’s as far as you should go.”

In 1995, forensic odontologists moved to avoid using the term “match” in their analysis, so as to avoid giving the impression that the bite mark belongs to a specific suspect and no one else. But similar, if nuanced, phrases still find their way into court, causing confusion. The courts, however, do not have guidelines restricting the use or presentation of bite-mark analysis.

“I feel very strongly that if the courts were a little bit more vigilant or perhaps simply a little bit more informed that they would come very close to excluding a lot of this evidence,” Mr. Faigman said. “Or, at the very least, they would tell that the evidence could come in, but for very modest purposes.”

"Ritual Deaths That Were Anything but Serene"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/science/27ur.html?_r=1&ref=science

Recently, a new examination of skulls from the royal cemetery at UR discovered in Iraq almost a century ago have led archaeologists to a new and interesting discovery. Once thought to have been killed without pain by poison, CT scans of palace guards have shown otherwise.

When the bones were discovered, they were completely smashed and flattened. By using computers however, anthropologists were able to obtain three-dimensional images of each fragment and determine where the pieces fit. The researchers who were led by Janet M. Monge, a physical anthropologist, applied forensic skills to arrive at the probable cause of death in both cases. There were two round holes in the soldiers cranium and in one woman’s about one inch in diameter, giving reason to believe that the people were not killed by poison which was the common belief for many years, but by sharp pikes that were driven into their heads. The most convincing evidence was that there were cracks radiating from the holes. The holes could have only been made in a living person to have produced such a pattern of fractures along stress lines. The more brittle bones of a person long dead would have shattered.

Along with the skull punctures, something else about the Mesopotamian burial process was discovered. New research has turned up evidence that bodies of some victims had been heated or baked, and not burned and treated with a compound of mercury. This process was not as advanced a technique as mummification processes in contemporary Egypt however they managed to keep the bodies from completely decomposing during extensive funerary ceremonies. On a final note, mummification, while it helps preserve the body, I imagine would make it difficult for forensic scientists to determine time of death.

'Smell Of Death' Research Could Help Recover Bodies In Disasters And Solve Crimes

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090816211837.htm

During a speaking at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society there were early results on a new instrument used in Forensic Science. The new instrument is planned to be a portable device to help identify and pick up, a “smell of death,” or scientifically the smell released by decomposing chemicals released by the body. As of today the detection and recovery of bodies are done by Cadaver dogs, which are very expensive and time consuming to train. With a new portable device which can do the job faster and more accurately than these dogs there will be an increase in efficiency for recovering bodies in various situations. Not only would the bodies be identified easier as well as more efficiently but this new device will also give a very accurate “time of death” when it identifies and measures the various chemicals released from the body.

The portable smell of death device has been tested on pigs who are put through various environments so scientists can identify the different chemicals which are released and how much of them are released. A few of these that will significantly help scientists in finalizing this device are the gases Putrescine and Cadaverine. Using pigs scientists will tweek this device in identifying these certain compounds by placing pigs in humane conditions. After the device is complete it should be ably to identify and recover a body with the chemical odor it gives off and the time of death when the device can identify the different compounds released in different stages.

I thought this article was very interesting and well written. The fact that scientists are researching to create new and more efficient devices in the Forensic field that can help crime scene investigators more efficiently identify various parts of a crime scene shows how much technology is needed in this field.

Audio Analysis: Getting a Jump on Gun Violence

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/12file-gun.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=audio%20analysis%20of%20gun%20shots&st=cse

This article was about the new technology that law enforcement agency’s are using all across the country. The technology is called audio analysis and it can have police at the scene of a crime within minutes after it happens. It works by police setting up small listening devices in “incident prone neighborhoods” and these devices are programmed specifically so that when it hears a gun shot it contacts the closest police unit and directs them to the exact location of that gun shot. This has proven extremely useful in places like L.A. and some laces of NYC where there is heavy gang activity. This new technology is helping keep the streets safe by helping the police be every where at once and always knowing the right place to be at the right time.

New View Of The Heliosphere: Cassini Helps Redraw Shape Of Solar System

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016101807.htm

Based on images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, the conception we have had of our heliosphere's for the past 50 years has proven to be incorrect. As the solar wind flows from the sun, it carves out a bubble in the interstellar medium. Models of the boundary region between the heliosphere and interstellar medium have been based on the assumption that the relative flow of the interstellar medium and its collision with the solar wind dominate the interaction. This would create a foreshortened “nose” in the direction of the solar system’s motion, and an elongated “tail” in the opposite direction. The INCA images suggest that the solar wind’s interaction with the interstellar medium is instead more significantly controlled by particle pressure and magnetic field energy density. It is wild to think that one image can turn our view on somthing after 50 years of a belief.

Lost for Decades, Gun Resurfaces in Shooting of New York Officer

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/nyregion/30gun.html?_r=1

This article talks about the life of a sixty year old revolver. This gun was shipped from the factory to New York City and was sold in a gun shop in Little Italy. The gun was bought by a former police officer and was reported lost in 1976. The whereabouts of the weapon were unknown until recently, when that same revolver fell from an arrested mans waistband and discharged a bullet that struck a New York police officer. The NYPD is now trying to trace the whereabouts of the gun from the time it was reported lost until the time the police officer was hit with the bullet. This process has proved to be difficult, the NYPD was able to trace the gun from its factory in Springfield, Mass through a gun shop in Little Italy, all the way to the ownership of a former police officer by examining the gun. Because the gun is so old, the John Jovino Gun Shop in Manhattan, no longer has records of guns sold in 1949. The only thing that the police do know is that it's last legal owner was in the 1970's. The criminal whose waistband the gun fell out of, Edwin Santana, said that he only had the revolver for a short period of time, and that he took it from his friend Carlos' house. Forensic scientists say that this gun was partcularly hard to track because old revolvers keep shell casings within the gun instead of spitting the out like semi-automatic pistols do. I particularly enjoyed this article because it shows how law enforcement can uncover a lot of information about the life of a weapon just from examining it. They were able to discover where and when this gun was made and also where it was sold.

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html?_r=1
The use of DNA in criminal investigations is being questioned. Scientists are now saying that DNA is not the best proof in a criminal case. DNA is no longer the perfect; it is now possible for scientist to replicate DNA. They were able to copy blood and saliva samples from one DNA donor and replicate that same DNA. “You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin. This process is not hard either. It can be carried out by any undergraduate biology student. To fix this problem, scientists are beginning to create systems that can detect the fake DNA samples and send them out to forensic labs so that the fake DNA will not be a problem. Another finding is that a person’s DNA can be replicated by just acquiring their drinking cup or cigarette butt. Celebrities might have to fear “genetic paparazzi,” said Gail H. Javitt of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University. “DNA is a lot easier to plant at a crime scene than fingerprints,” said Javitt. “We’re creating a criminal justice system that is increasingly relying on this technology.” The one positive aspect about this is that the average criminal most likely could not perform this successfully. There are two ways to copy DNA: one is to gain a sample of a person’s DNA from piece of hair and through whole genome amplification the sample can be enlarged. The other technique has to do with DNA databases and profiles. In a lab as a series of numbers and letters corresponding to variations at 13 spots in a person’s genome tell their DNA profile.

This article is very important to society because now it is known that DNA evidence is not the best; it does have its faults. Also, people have to be more careful since their DNA can be copied just by someone acquiring a strand of their hair or their drinking cup. The best way to really be sure about anything in a crime scene investigation is to use all aspects of forensic science to solve the case. One alone cannot safely prove the case without doubt.

The article is written as if it is very easy for someone to copy DNA. But it does not go into the process very well so it is not know how simple the DNA’s replication is. It causes the reader to feel like they have to be careful about what they do with certain things that have their DNA on them. Scientists are already creating new systems that can determine what DNA samples are real and what samples are the copies. Once these are created they will be sold to forensic labs all over the country so that the process of replicating DNA will not affect a crime investigation.

Jury Deadlock Ends a Trial Over Merck’s Bone Drug

This article is about a recent court case regarding the Merck product "Fosamax", where the jury was deadlocked, forcing the judge to call a mistrial. The case came about because a 71-year-old retired sheriff claimed that taking the drug for a number of years caused the tissue of his jawbone to die. The drug was originally designed to prevent bone loss in women who are going through menopause, though in the case of the victim the opposite effect seemed to be true. In the trial the prosecutors used expert witnesses who gave their opinions on the matter, while Merck used similar tactics to try and prove that the accuser had had jaw problems before and that the drug was not, if at all, solely responsible for her osteonecrosis. This case has been closely watched by both lawyers and pharmacists as this trial is a forerunner for other potential lawsuits against Merck for other products also having adverse effects. It was claimed that in total there are 1,200 cases against Merck for Fosamax alone, but despite the compelling evidence the jury could not decide guilt or innocence, and stocks in Merck still rose by 58 cents a share.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/business/12drug.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1255047713-KLc02vBPpCE9dfLh+/ua4w

New Technology Detects Chemical Weapons In Seconds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091005102708.htm# This article is about Scientists at Queen's University Belfast who are developing new sensors to detect chemical agents and illegal drugs which will help fight against the threat of terrorist attacks. These new sensors will use special gel pads to 'swipe' a person or crime scene to collect a sample. It is then analyzed by a scanning instrument that can tell us if there is a presence of chemicals. This works within seconds. The scanning instrument will use Raman Spectroscopy. It involves shining a laser beam onto the sample and measuring the energy of light that scatters from it to determine what chemical compound is present. this type of spectroscopy is not sensitive enough to detect low concentrations of chemicals, so to see the concentration, the sample is mixed with nanoscale silver particles making us able to see the smallest trace. Since this happens in seconds, it will help stop terrorism, because they will know if they are dangerous faster. Eventually what scientist will hope to do is use the new sensors for developing a breathalyzer for roadside drug testing.

Innocent but Dead

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/opinion/01herbert.html

This article is about a Texan named Cameron Willingham, who was executed by lethal injection in February of 2004. For the murders of his three children. The original reports said that he had set the house on fire allowing his three young children to die on December 23, 1991. When the fire was going, statements were originally taken stating the Willingham was making many attempts to get into the small house and rescue his children, eventually he was restrained and handcuffed. During trial, evidence showed that arson was most likely the cause of the fire. This is because of deep charring at the base of some of the walls and patterns of soot that made them suspicious. Forensic Scientists also noticed what they felt were ominous fracture patterns in pieces of broken window glass, leading them to believe that Willingham committed the crime, even though there had been no motive. He was put on death row and executed after 12 years despite the fact that influential scientists were making groundbreaking discoveries, all proving that the fire was not arson. Willingham was proven innocent; however, it was too late for him because he had been lethally injected.

Protection Or Peril? Gun Possession Of Questionable Value In An Assault, Study Finds

October 1, 2009

This article discusses the findings of a study done by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The purpose of this study was to find the effectiveness of having a gun during an assault. The results of this study were shocking. It estimates that people who are trying to protect themselves with a gun are approximately 4.5 times more likely to be shot during an assault than people not carrying a gun.

This will make people think twice about carrying a gun for safety's sake. The reasons for the results of this study are unknown, but there are many potential causes. Perhaps people without guns are more likely to comply with their assaulter's demands. Or, those who have guns get shot while they are trying to extract it. Whatever the causes for these results, this study shows that having a gun does not necessarily make you safer during an assault.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930121512

Murder of Annie Le

 

            The murder of Annie Le has made many headlines in the20past week. Authorities suspect and have charged Clark with the murder of Le. Both Le and Clark were Yale students working in the laboratory. Le’s body was found inside a wall, she was proved strangled to death.  Clark was arrested 5 days ago in the Super 8 motel after he had been tailed and had given a DNA sample. Originally authorities said that they had matched his DNA to that found at the crime scene. The body was found in the Amistad building which is a lab for technicians. This new lab is home to thousands of animals. Le was to be married just days after her death. Clark came into suspicion early last week after there were bruises and scratches on his chest (possibly defensive wounds) he also failed a lie detector test. Clark was put in a state prison for protective custody. 

The murder of Annie Le has been all over the media in the past 2 weeks. Such a brutal murder at such a prestigious school in uncommon and has effected everybody at the school and many others throughout the country. Although the DNA analysis was not explained, i know that this science would be relative to forensic science. In fact every test that has been run pertaining to the crime scene is related to forensics. 

Although this article did not focus as much on science as i would have liked, it was simply an informational article that was well written. The cruelty was well-explained and so were the events leading up to the charge and arrest of Raymond Clark III.

Current event post.

The article Who Says You Can't Do That? Crime Scene Photography: Capturing the Scene, presented in a review by Meghan Bond was very interesting and well written. Meghan does a good job of explaining to the reader what the job of the photographer is and how significant it is. She also gives details in explaining what kind of things the photgrapher must do. For example, the photographer must have field notes and diagrams that match up to the still pictures.  Meghan also does a good job of emphasizing the importance of crime scene photos in court cases because visual evidence is vital. I also commend her on using a direct quote from the article, it gives the reader of the review more of a detailed understanding of what the article was about. Although the review was excellent there were some things that she could have added to make it better.

            Perhaps if Meghan could have gone into detail on how the photographs are presented in court. I think that this would have interested the reader by giving some background information on the court process of presenting visual evidence. I also think that this review of the article could have been better if she added some sort of conclusion. In this conclusion she could once again state the significant factors of the article so that the reader could finish the article with a complete understanding of photography in crime scenes.

            I was impressed by this review because it was thorough and well written. I also learned about the way photographers go about a taking pictures in a crime scene. For example, how they are supposed to depict what happened at the scene instead of photographing everything even the extras. Before reading this article I did not realize how important crime scene photographers were to a court case 

New technology makes fingerprint removal from metals easier

Tim Brogan 9/22/09
Mr. Ippolito Forensics Even



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090713085018.htm


This article is about an advance in technology that has helped us discover news way in removing and identifying fingerprints. Researcher Alex Goddard has discovered a natural technique to remove a fingerprint without disturbing the construction of it. The way that he does this involves studying the chemical and physical interactions occurring between the metal and the fingerprint sweat deposit. Using advanced surface imaging techniques, such as an atomic force microscope, observations of fingerprinted brass samples can identify optimum conditions to promote the natural enhancement of the fingerprint, vastly improving their recovery rate.

This article can help many crimes be solved. The way in which this article can help that is because of the major advance in technology presented in it. This technology will allow many crimes to be solved with even partial prints because it will be able to lift the print off of a bullet without destroying it.

In the world today this is extremely useful because now many of the murders that happen everyday will be solved and the people who break the law and harm others. In the world today this may help the crime rate in cities go down because criminals will start to think about the advancements in technology that might catch them for their crimes.