Forensics Gianna DiMinno
Current Event Review 4.20.16
Moore, Elizabeth Armstrong. "New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death." Newser. Newser Staff, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
I read the article, “New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death” by Elizabeth Armstrong. This article was about current forensic tests that are used to determine a time of death of a person. The way to do this is to use a person’s core body temperature but it only works within three days of death. Researchers at the University of Salzburg in Austria have made a new method that can figure out the exact time of death as many as 10 days later.
They announced their discovery at the Society for Experimental Biology conference in Prague and told BBC that they have been measuring how muscle proteins degrade in dead pigs and is proved to be a promising method. This approach is thought of to be “unorthodox” but it can change forensic science. This extends the ability to measure a time of death from 36 hours to 240 hours by using the tissue that is in our bodies.
This new technique is important to forensic science because it allows the hour of determination of death to be extended from 36 to 240 which can let forensic investigators get more details from the bodies/victim in order to find their perp or attacker. I enjoyed reading this article because it taught me a new forensic technique that can change the forensic game. Another thing I enjoyed about this article was that it said the benefits of this new technique and the negatives. One thing I didn’t enjoy about this article was the fact that they didn’t include a case where this technique was used in so we could fully understand how it works. Another setback I had with this article was that it could have gone into more detail about how the new technique was “unorthodox”, but overall I thought this article described the new technique well enough for me to understand and comprehend it.
8 comments:
I thought Gianna did a really good job choosing an interesting article and writing a great review. The first aspect of the review that I liked was how she was able to convey the main message of the article. She was able to explain how the researchers at the University of Salzburg in Austria had made a new method that could figure out the exact time of death at any time. The second aspect of the review that I liked was how she was able to organize her review in a way which made the review easier to read. I was able to understand the article and review a lot better because of this. The third aspect of the review that I liked was how she connected the article to our studies that we did this year. She was able to connect the article to Forensic Toxicology which made me understand the topic a lot better and have more information about it.
Although Gianna did a great job on her review, there are some suggestions that have for her. The first suggestion I have for Gianna is that she should put more details in to the review about why this new technique is important to forensic science because it would've allowed me to understand the topic a lot better. The last suggestion I have for Gianna is that she should've put more information about why this article is so important to our current studies. If she had done this it would've allowed me to better understand why the information in the article is so important.
One thing that I was impressed by from reading the review was how the hour of determination of death to be extended from 36 to 240 from this new technique which can also let forensic investigators get more details from the bodies/victim in order to find their perpetrator or attacker. In all, Gianna choose a great article and wrote and amazing review that allowed me to take in as much information as possible.
Moore, Elizabeth Armstrong. "New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death." Newser. Newser Staff, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
Moore, Elizabeth Armstrong. "New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death." Newser. Newser Staff, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
http://www.newser.com/story/209247/new-test-figures-out-exact-time-of-death.html
I really enjoyed reading the review of and the article “New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death,” by Elizabeth Armstrong and liked many aspects of them. First, I liked how the author of the review stated the process of how to determine the time of death- this made the discovery more realistic and helped us understand the article more. She said that the way to do it is to use a person’s core body temperature within three days of death (because the process does not work if it is after three days). I also like how Gianna referenced the university that composed this process: University of Salzburg. Even though this process is considered “unorthodox,” it can change the future of forensic science. Lastly, I like how Gianna gave specifics to how this process is important: It allows the hour of determination of death to be extended from 36 to 240 which can let forensic investigators get more details from the bodies/victims in order to find their perp or attacker. These aspects accentuate the importance of this article and discovery in general.
Although this article had many good aspects, it also had some negative. First, I did not like how the author of the review did not include the link to the article so I could have investigated more on this discovery and topic. Also, I did not like how Gianna did not talk about the history of processes attempting to determine the time of death of a body and just went straight into this discovery of this process without any background. I also did not like how the author of the review did not say much information in general- she did not talk about the background of this branch of forensic science. Lastly, I did not like how the article and author of the review did not provide evidence, like a case or investigation, where this process was in play and proved successful. Overall, it would have been better if more information was provided to help the reader understand the article and its importance more.
I learned many things when reading this article. First, I learned about a new discovery that could change the future of forensic science, how it works, and how convenient it is. Also, I learned that using a person’s body temperature can aid in the time of death of a person. This article and review have changed my view on forensic science because it opened up my knowledge to processes used to determining time of death. Also, it has changed my perception because I had not known about these processes used to determine the time of death. Overall, I really enjoyed this article and look forward to learning more about this topic and discovery in the future.
The review that Gianna wrote of the article titled “New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death” may be short, but right to the point. In it, she references the method that was used before this discovery of a new test and how it would allow three days to pass after death before it could not be accurately tested. Gianna also addresses the argument that the new method that is being studied may be considered “unorthodox” because forensic scientists are measuring the degradation of pig’s muscles in order to create results. She also mentions specific details, such as where the discovery of the new method occurred, which is at the University of Salzburg in Austria. Lastly, Gianna’s critique paragraph was the most clear and concise. She points out that improvement could have been made to the original article if there was a case in which the method was used to help readers have a better understanding of the technique overall.
A few things that could have made this review a stronger piece is to make was if the transitions from idea to idea or paragraph to paragraph was more smooth. This was seen in the comparison between the time limitation of previous methods to the new technique, which increased the time of determining the original time of death to ten days. Also, to improve the review, more details on the actual method itself would have rounded out the article and give it more death. Lastly, I was curious as to know what the negatives of the new method were that were addressed by the original article.
This review reinforced the fact that forensic science--and all sciences in general--are constantly changing and always improving upon itself. I also learned that the hour of determination of death is extended through this new method. There might not be as many errors that may have occurred when the time period was constrained, while now, with this technique, the time of death can be measured for ten more days.
I read Gianna’s review on an article that talks about new tests to extend the determination of the exact time of death in crime cases. Gianna did a good job in explaining how extending the determination for the time of death from 3 days to 10 days will provide more accuracy to forensic scientists. Gianna also did a good job in explaining the setbacks of the article because I had many of the same thoughts, including why the new experiment was “unorthodox”. Gianna lastly did a good job in choosing a topic that is current and relatable to forensic science and what we have been recently studying.
What I would suggest to Gianna is to explain how exactly does this new method extend the ability to measure the time of death in a specimen from 36 hours to 240 hours. I would also explain more of the benefits and negatives you said in your review that would be a game changer.
I enjoyed Gianna’s review because it was more of an update of forensic experiments and not just another forensic crime case.
I enjoyed reading Gianna’s article about figuring out exact times of death. I like how she stated the new technique that is available and how it is a significant improvement over the older ones. Another thing that was well presented was her opinion on the case. I too agree that it would have been nice to have read about a case or two, which employed these techniques. I really liked how Gianna extracted as much information as possible from the article. Her review of the article is almost as thorough as the original article. However, I craved more information on the subject and I found a few articles that did the trick:
https://www.rt.com/news/271576-forensic-method-time-death/
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33320009
I believe there is room for improvement in this article review, though, because I had a lot of questions after reading this article. Gianna said that the article mentioned negatives to the technique but I was left wondering what they were. Also, she alluded to muscle protein in pigs helping forensic investigators in some way but in which way, exactly? I attempted to find this information in the original article but to no avail.
I learned a lot from this review. The most significant addition to my knowledge was the fact that body temperature is used to find time of death. I believe we touched upon that concept in class but this review really brought it home for me.
Moore, Elizabeth Armstrong. "New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death." Newser. Newser Staff, Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
http://www.newser.com/story/209247/new-test-figures-out-exact-time-of-death.html
Great introduction paragraph, it gave us the perfect amount of background info combined with a hint about the purpose of the article. Excellent explanation of the new process which allows them to use core body temperature up to ten days post mortem. One thing I would suggest is to avoid using filler words such as, “this” and “things” it makes it hard to follow a complex explanation. I think you did a great job with the reflection paragraph, I like how you put in pros and cons. I think however, you could have spent more time with the relevance at the beginning when you mentioned the time gap. Overall, it was very well done, great find in the article I would have never known this new game changer is coming for forensics without it!
I thought that Gianna did a great job choosing an interesting article that is relevant to what we are learning in class. It was interesting to learn of a new test that allows forensic scientists to figure out the exact time of death. There was a fantastic explanation of the new process. I greatly enjoyed all the details that Gianna included in her current event report. One suggestion that I could give to Gianna is that she wrote that there were negatives to this test but did not end up sharing exactly what they were
Moore, Elizabeth Armstrong. "New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death."Newser. Newser, 3 July 2015. Web. 7 May 2016. .
This current event reflects on the article it is based after. It is short, clear and concise, especially when Gianna explains how current forensics tests work. I also think she chose an interesting topic because determining the time of death is a fundamental skill forensic investigators have to learn. The extension of three days to ten days is crucial to gleaning the truth of a seemingly impossible-to-crack case. Therefore, I am glad to see Gianna chose this important piece of analysis.
The current event, however, earns a bit of criticism. First of all, DiMinno should put the citation link. I could find the article if I searched it up on Google but it would save some time if she gave it to the commenters to compare with her current event. Also, it is no fault of Gianna’s own that her current event is short, which is why I would like to suggest that she would pick a longer one. This way she could elaborate on more mysterious sub-topics, like the “false dawns” mentioned in the actual article.
Last but not least, I found it ingenious that they used the breakdown of muscle proteins to help determine the time of death. Most people, even those who are studying forensics now, would have not thought of such a solution to extend the time window where people can determine the time of death. Overall, the genius tidbits in this article and current event made it all worthwhile.
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