The article, ‘Baby doe’, Breakthrough Showcases Pollen Forensics, shares a heartbreaking story on how a toddler was found in a plastic bag on the beach in Massachusetts. The case remained unsolved, until two months later. The pollen particles on the girl have been a tremendous help in solving this case, as to how and why this girl was killed and left on the beach. The pollen particles found on the girl's clothing and body was detected to be from around the area that she was left, around boston. Forensic palynology, or the scientific method of establishing “pollen prints” is now the main resource for solving this investigation. Vaughn Bryant, the director of the palynology laboratory at Texas A&M University said, “You’re looking for a combination of things – the percent of pine, the mixture of the different spores… every place has a unique pollen print. When it works, it works really well.” Figure out what happened to this young girl, and where she is from has been a lot easier using the forensic palynology.
Forensic Palynology is not used very often in the United States, but outside of the States it is used frequently. Bryant said it should be used more in the United States, and one key reason being, pollen won’t erase from your clothes even if you wash them. This article is relevant and important to our lives and forensics because it shares the importance Forensic Palynology, which is rarely used here in the US. Forensic scientists have used Palynology for the Baby Doe case, and identifying the home regions of immigrants who die in the desert and have no means of identification, but that is about it. The effect it had on the Baby Doe case is huge, and it should prove to scientists here in the United States to use this method more often.
I thought this was an overall very interesting and insightful article. I thought it could have included a lit more information about the Baby Doe case, and could have gone into more depth about how it all played out. It could have explained how she died, and who the parents were. I thought it had a lot of good information, and great reasoning behind the fact that this type of forensics should be used here in the United States. I really enjoyed this article, and thought the story behind it was very interesting.
Augenstein, Seth. "'Baby Doe' Breakthrough Showcases Pollen Forensics."Forensic Magazine. N.p., 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
posted for E. Grass
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Augenstein, Seth. "'Baby Doe' Breakthrough Showcases Pollen Forensics."Forensic Magazine. N.p., 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
http://www.forensicmag.com/articles/2015/08/baby-doe-breakthrough-showcases-pollen-forensics?cmpid=verticalcontent
Lily Grass’ review on the article, Baby Doe Breakthrough Showcases Pollen Forensics is clear, succinct and easy to read. First of all, Grass summarizes for her review in the order that each point is mentioned in the article, which creates excellent flow. Most reviews, no matter how eloquently they are written, are impossible to read all the way through because they lack flow. For this review, that is not the case. Secondly, the review is succinct because she always focuses on the important details and leaves out any extra, pointing to the importance of forensic palynology and how it was used in the Baby Doe case. The summary paragraph, while the longest of the three, still maintains a brevity appropriate to the article. Last but not least, the entire review was not too dense to read and it is obvious that Grass read her article thoroughly.
However, there are two key issues that need to be addressed. The former of these two problems regards the information she claims to have been used. “Figure out what happened to this young girl, and where she is from has been a lot easier using the forensic palynology” was a sentence that was slightly difficult to understand. Although the current event was easy to read, incorrect tense use like this makes the reader wonder if she wants them to figure out what happened or if those details have actually been discovered. Despite that investigators are focusing on the local area of Boston and around it, it does not necessarily mean that the actual location of Baby Doe’s death has been found and no details have been provided on the means of the toddler’s death. Last but not least, there are minor grammar errors, such as too many commas in sentences like “It could have explained how she died, and who the parents were,” and the phrase “I thought” has been overused in the last paragraph.
Nonetheless, Grass has written a great article on forensics palynology. Her current event is a model for many others because it emphasizes how significant the usage of a forensics discipline can be to the United States of America after discussing how well it served other countries too. Current Events should expose their readers to concepts and cases they have not been exposed to before. Although articles and current events on new or unusual forensics disciplines have been written before, it is important that the writers of such pieces keep the topics fresh, engaging and analyzed differently from each other. Certainly, Grass has achieved this.
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