Zach Zucker
12/14/17
Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction
Southall, Ashley. “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction.”The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/nyregion/dna-phenotyping-new-york-police.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection.
After a bird watcher found a severed hand from an unknown person washed up on the shire in Brooklyn, remains of other body parts such as a foot and ribcage weer found which could possibly be linked the the same person. The medical examination examined the parts and concluded that it is likely that they belong to the same body. ALong with this,the examiner analysed that the parts would have come from a woman from ages 20-45. On a flap of skin in the calf of the body, was a tatoo with the name Monique. After no more progress was made on the case, the police headed to go into the direction of phenotyping. Phenotyping uses DNA from the biological matter people leave behind, like skin and blood, to predict their appearance. “Once we identify the deceased, it’d go a long way to solving the crime itself,” said Chief Patrick Conry, who was chief of Brooklyn detectives and is now a senior official at Police Headquarters.
By using phenotyping, scientists can discover variation traits in the person such as eye color, freckling, and geographical ancestry. AFter this step, the scientists put these traits into an algorithm that creates a profile for the individual. Recently, pharmaceutical companies have used programs that can generate faces for these traits. It resulted that Monique had a sub-Saharan African ancestry, and not white like what the scientists originally believed as it look from the severed limbs of the body. This is how scientists can use a new type of technology called phenotyping to identify bodys.
I feel that this article and very informative and very relevant in today's society. For example, as crime rates have been drastically rising, it is important that we are able to get true justice and we deserve to know what happened in certain cases. Along with this, technology is rapidly expanding and improving so it is very interesting to see how phenotyping call eventually solve many unsolved cases and mysteries and how it could possibly lead to suspects involved with cases.
After reading this article called “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction”, I feel that this article is very well written. I think the article is well written because it is very easy to understand and shows purpose in today’s society and our advancing technology. Although this article would be improved. FOr example, the article could have explained and gone more into detail on what happened to Monique and if they ever caught a suspect. To improve this article I would suggest writing, about another story on which phenotyping was used to identify a body.
6 comments:
Alexander Rizzo
Current Event #11
December 16th, 2017
Mr. Ippolito
Zach Zucker
Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction
Southall, Ashley. “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction.”The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/nyregion/dna-phenotyping-new-york-police.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection.
The first point well presented in Zach’s current is the way in which he first summarized the article effectively by avoiding to many details but portraying the entire story without leaving any thing out. The is important because sometimes when writers summarize they often tell the entire story over again which is unnecessary. Another aspect of the review that was well written was Zach’s transition from the summary of the article to why the article is important. Without saying why the article is important to forensic science, the review means nothing in the context of the class. Finally, Zach did a good job putting his own opinion about the article in the end of his review; making sure his opinion did not affect how he wrote the beginning of the article.
One point that would make the review better was by saying why he liked the article with more description. At the end of his review, he said the article was a “good read” but did not fully elaborate why. Another critique of Zach’s article is the grammatical errors in the review. For example Zach wrote, “FOr example…”
One thing that I learned from this review is how important and life changing a DNA sample can be in terms of money and wealth. I did not realize that DNA could not only solve crimes but also be financially beneficial to people.
Justin McCarthy
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics 12H
Current Event 12- Commenting on Zach Zucker's review
Due January 2nd 2018
Southall, Ashley. “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction. ”The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017,
www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/nyregion/dna-phenotyping-new-york-police.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection.
Upon reading Zach Zucker’s review regarding The New York Times story “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims look Like” written by Ashley Southall, the overall impression that I took away was that I was very impressed with Zach Zucker’s hard work that he put together for this article. While there were many areas where I think Zach did a great job as a writer, three areas stand out above all else that I think really helped him make the perfect review. The first was that Zach did a very good job when it came to luring his reader into his review to not only want to read it but to learn about the mysteries regarding his topic. “After a bird watcher found a severed hand from an unknown person washed up on the shire in Brooklyn, remains of other body parts such as a foot and ribcage weer found which could possibly be linked the the same person” (Zach Zucker). By doing this Zach is able to lure his reader into his work because the reader has learned a “teaser” of information and in result they will have a desire to further on to read Zach’s great work. A second factor that I also enjoyed by reading your article was that I think you did a very good job at establish the central theme as well as the central message which Ashley Southall uses to in her article regarding the problematic yet at the same time optimistic research that is being used in DNA Sketching. “By using phenotyping, scientists can discover variation traits in the person such as eye color, freckling, and geographical ancestry. After this step, the scientists put these traits into an algorithm that creates a profile for the individual” (Zucker). By setting up the theme Zach is also able to connect to the article to the reader on a more personal level because it makes the reader want to question how effective is relying on technology to solve crimes in our world. Thus the third factor which I think Zach also did a very good job at was transparency when it comes to his sentence structure. I believe this was very important and was very well executed by Zach’s part because if the sentence structure sounds off, it has the ability to disrupting the reader’s experience into reading a review as a whole.
However, despite the fact that Zach Zucker’s article was very good, I believe that Zach has a couple areas where he could improve on in his writing for not only in Forensics but for in his life. The first factor where I think Zach could have slightly improved on was fixing minor grammatical errors. By doing this Zach is able to take his article to the next elite level because his work would be on the level of the elite- which very few have the potential to achieve. Another factor where I also think Zach could have improved on was perhaps pulling one more quote from the article that he was reviewing. “DNA testing has been around for decades, popularized on television and in the criminal justice system for its usefulness in determining paternity and ancestry. DNA collected from crime scenes is routinely used to identify suspects and to convict or exonerate the accused, usually by comparing it to a suspect’s DNA or samples in a criminal database” (Ashley Southall). By doing this Zach not only adds depth to his review, but also adds validity to his research, which I believe will also help him make the jump into the elite level.
The overall impression that I took away from reading Zachary Zucker’s review was that I was very impressed with his research that he put in throughout his article. I say this because his article makes me more aware of our world when it regards to our continuous use of relying on technology to help us solve crimes involving murder. I chose this article because I like the New York Times as well as the reason that I was intrigued with the idea that technology can soon be used for DNA tests. Thus from reading this article, Zach’s review does not only make more aware, but it also changes more perception that because our world using such hi-tech and advanced technology, we are on the verge of discovering a new field when it comes to Forensic Scientists- which is both intriguing but at the same time very hesitating because we don’t know where this field will take us.
Jack Baxter
Current Event Comment
1/1/18
Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction
Southall, Ashley. “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction.”The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/nyregion/dna-phenotyping-new-york-police.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection.
The first point well presented in Zach’s current is the way in which he first summarized the article effectively by avoiding to many details but portraying the entire story without leaving any thing out. The is important because sometimes when writers summarize they often tell the entire story over again which is unnecessary. Another aspect of the review that was well written was Zach’s transition from the summary of the article to why the article is important. Without saying why the article is important to forensic science, the review means nothing in the context of the class. Finally, Zach did a good job putting his own opinion about the article in the end of his review; making sure his opinion did not affect how he wrote the beginning of the article.
One point that would make the review better was by saying why he liked the article with more description. At the end of his review, he said the article was a “good read” but did not fully elaborate why. Another critique of Zach’s article is the grammatical errors in the review. For example Zach wrote, “FOr example…”
One thing that I learned from this review is how important and life changing a DNA sample can be in terms of money and wealth. I did not realize that DNA could not only solve crimes but also be financially beneficial to people.
The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/nyregion/dna-phenotyping-new-york-police.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection.
Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction
Southall, Ashley. “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction.”The New York Times,
Zach Initially paints a very vivid recreation of the article which is very helpful for the reader to envision the scene, impressively he does this without having to retell the entire story but leaving out mor menial details that remain in the original article.
The article was pretty meticulously organized, each paragraph had a good transition and supported each others overall importance to the forensic importance of the article. This article is very important as it justifies how much we rely on forensic technology to solve crimes and it also parallels the range of technology from Computer DNA testing to a simple pen and paper. Despite few grammatical and spelling errors the article was very well written and in my opinion more informative than the wordy original times article.
Overall, Zach's article chalks up how much progress has been made in forensic technology and how tangible that Progress actually is in a world of criminals.
Damian Kaminski
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics 12H
Current Event 12-
Southall, Ashley. “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims Look Like; Some Call It Science Fiction. ”The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017,
www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/nyregion/dna-phenotyping-new-york-police.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection.
Upon reading Zach Zucker’s review regarding The New York Times story “Using DNA to Sketch What Victims look Like” written by Ashley Southall, the overall impression that I took away was that I was very impressed with Zach Zucker’s hard work that he put together for this article. While there were many areas where I think Zach did a great job as a writer, three areas stand out above all else that I think really helped him make the perfect review. The first was that Zach did a very good job when it came to luring his reader into this review to not only want to read it but to learn about the mysteries regarding this topic. “After a bird watcher found a severed hand from an unknown person washed up on the shire in Brooklyn, remains of other body parts such as a foot and ribcage were found which could possibly be linked the same person” ). By doing this Zach is able to lure his reader into his work because the reader has learned a “teaser” of information and in the result, they will have a desire to further on to read Zach’s great work. A second factor that I also enjoyed by reading your article was that I think you did a very good job at establishing the central theme as well as the central message which Ashley Southall uses to in her article regarding the problematic yet at the same time optimistic research that is being used in DNA Sketching. “By using phenotyping, scientists can discover variation traits in the person such as eye color, freckling, and geographical ancestry. After this step, the scientists put these traits into an algorithm that creates a profile for the individual”
By setting up the theme Zach is also able to connect to the article to the reader on a more personal level because it makes the reader want to question how effective is relying on technology to solve crimes in our world. Thus the third factor which I think Zach also did a very good job at was transparency when it comes to his sentence structure. I believe this was very important and was very well executed by Zach’s part because if the sentence structure sounds off, it has the ability to disrupting the reader’s experience into reading a review as a whole.
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