Hips Don't Lie: Researchers Find More Accurate Technique to Determine Sex of Skeletal Remains

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100706112601.htm

As we all know from doing the sex identification lab, there are many ways to find out whether a skeleton is male or female, black, white, or Asian. However, scientists have recently discovered a new way to identify the sex of a skeleton. Scientists are now using three-dimensional imaging technology to effectively quantify the specific characteristics of the os coax (pelvis) that differentiate males from females. This scientific breakthrough is being lead by Dr. Ann Ross, a doctor as North Carolina State University. This technology was originally going to be used to identify skeletons that had been smashed and un-identifiable in natural disasters or massive accidents. However, recently forensics scientists have began to take an interest in this technology to help better identify victims in cases. This method is not merely helpful for identifying remains, but is much more accurate than being done by a human because the computers can make much more exact calculations. Dr. Ross and many of her associates hope that forensic scientists will begin to use this machine regularly some time in the near future.

Forensic Metal Fingerprinting: Simple, Handheld Device Which Can Measure Corrosion on Machine Parts

University of Leicester. "Forensic metal fingerprinting: Simple, handheld device which can measure corrosion on machine parts." ScienceDaily 22 October 2010. 16 December 2010 .

Recently there has been research into fingerprint detection. There is a new device that can help determine an identity of a person using forensic metal fingerprinting. This device has been created at the University of Leicester. Dr John Bond's method of identifying fingerprints on brass bullet-casings, even after they have been wiped clean, was based on the minuscule amounts of corrosion which can be caused by sweat. Now Dr. Bond is applying this new technique to the industry by creating a machine which can measure corrosion. Corrosion is a process in which a solid is eaten away and changed by a chemical action. An example of corrosion would be as in the oxidation of iron in the presence of water by an electrolytic process. There is much research on inhibiting the corrosion of brass because of its use in heat exchangers and industrial pipe work, this technique enables the degree of corrosion to be easily measured.
This new technique affects humanity because this device makes it easier to measure corrosion on machine parts as well as making it easier for fingerprint analysis. Fingerprint analysis can be difficult to determine in some instances, but with this new device, fingerprint analysis can be determined earlier in the process.
Overall, I thought that this article was very interesting because there are many new developments in fingerprint analysis recently. I liked when Dr. Bond stated: "This is a new, quick, cheap and easy way of measuring the extent of corrosion on copper and copper based alloys, such as brass,”. This quote explains how this new machine effects humanity as well as why he created this device. I think that this article was well written as well as explained the process of fingerprint analysis with this new tool.

Facial Recognition: A Valuable Tool For Law Enforcement

Facial recognition has been around longer than most people think. It all started with Bertillon when he worked on face classification. Bertillon developed means by which portraits could be sorted by common morphological characteristics, the specific shapes of the different parts of the face, and therefore an individual’s photo could be found without having to resort to browsing through large collections of portraits. This is known as portrait parlé or spoken portrait. Facial recognition is also involved in identification line-up techniques in which a witness is confronted with a group of physically similar people, one of whom is a suspect. The witness must then decide whether one of the persons in the group was present at the scene of the crime or not. Today, police officers equipped with PDAs can quickly capture facial images and submit search requests to remote facial recognition systems, quickly determining whether an individual is known to law enforcement. These computers are very accurate; pierce county sheriff’s office in Washington State has demonstrated an accuracy rate of 94%. This is still not as accurate as fingerprint analysis but it can be very useful when fingerprint data does not exist or when multiple independent verification methods are desired.

This is very important because facial recognition can help police with identification. It also provides another resource for scientists to use instead of just fingerprint analysis. Facial recognition can provide law enforcement agencies with a valuable tool for multiple public safety applications.

This article was written very well. I liked how the article was broken into sections such as, background, general facial recognition, and criminal prevention.

http://www.forensicmag.com/article/facial-recognition-valuable-tool-law-enforcement?page=0,1

Age Estimation from Blood

Recently scientists have been able to determine the age of a person from there blood. This is possible because the method in which this is preformed takes advantage of T-cells, which are fundamental in the immune system. When DNA cells and T-Cells come together they form circular DNA cells and which are known as TCR cells. These TCR cells decline at a constant rate with age. This method was crated by Manfred Kayser of the Erasmus MC University Medical Center.

This will help forensic science because it gives investigators another means of identification besides bone and teeth marks. Also if a criminal or missing person was bleeding at the crime scene it would be easier to find their age with the blood instead of other techniques. Another reason why this method helps benefit Forensic science is that if a criminal is not in the DNA database then there is not information on them. However using this technique one can find out the age of the criminal or missing person.

I found this article to be very interesting because it shows us another one of the many Forensics techniques. One thing that would have been better about this article would be if they gave an example of when this method was used, and proven helpful. But over all I think that this was a good article.

Putting a Living Face on the Nameless Dead

“Putting a Living Face on the Nameless Dead”
By Shoshanaa Walter

Two farmers at Watsonville Farm stopped to find an anonymous body found in a ditch. The body was expected to be an illegal immigrant who was killed and then put on this road. The only identifiable body parts were the skull and some teeth. Investigators wanted to know who this body was so they called a forensic artist, Gloria Nusse, to draw his face. In order to make this man’s face, Ms. Nusse formed a resin casting over its face. His face was now visible; the man was John Doe. Ms. Nusse then worked on three other unknown Hispanic bodies. To begin identifying the faces, she places 20 needles in different locations of the skull to indicate the tissue depth, measures the angle of the nasal spine and cavity to determine the protrusion of the nose, and measures the width of the lips by their proportion of their eyes sockets. Ms. Nusse says it’s all about reading the skull in order to remake the face. One of the bodies was Yesenia Nungaray, a 16 year old girl who left her town with an older man. How Ms. Nusse displayed Ms. Nungray was incredible accurate to what she actually looked like. A way in which she tries to make the bodies easily identifiable is by extenuating their unique features.
These sculptures of the unknown bodies are very helpful for identifying the bodies that may never have been identified if it weren’t for these sculptures. Since the United States does not have DNA or any way of identifying illegal immigrants, this is really the best way of figuring out who these people are. They send the sculptures down to the country where they are presumably from and then hope for someone, a relative or friend, to come up and identify them.
One critique I have for this article is that it is way too boring. I thought the topic would be interesting originally, but more I read on, there was no real direction in the topic. I wish it was either more directed towards this sculpture technique and the three bodies or more on Ms. Nusse and other success she has had with these sculptures.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/05bcclay.html?_r=1&ref=forensic_science