Amelia Koenig
Forensics
Current Event 3
October 1, 2021
Taylor, Michelle. “Can Ancient DNA Methods Be Used to Improve Success Rate
of Forensic Id?” Forensic®, 1 Oct. 2021, https://www.forensicmag.com/579779-Can-Ancient-DNA-Methods-Be-Used-to-Improve-Success-Rate-of-Forensic-ID/.
Elena Zavala, a graduate student at Maxstudent Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, completed a Ph.D. in ancient DNA after a master’s in forensic sciences in order to deeper understand the significance of ancient DNA testing and its relevance in modern forensics. Anthropologists use 300,000-year-old ancient DNA (aDNA) in order to assist their studies and identify human evolution and population. “By virtue of time, this aDNA arrives at the lab highly degraded,” and Elena Zavala has proposed a new technique that can be used for forensic sciences braised on this idea (Taylor 2021). According to a 2015 case study performed by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL), their attempts at identifying degraded mtDNA from victims of the Korean was only 44 percent; when Zavala was granted access to the unsuccessful fragments, she was able to identify “between 2 and 37x as many DNA fragments that mapped to the human genome than any of the other extraction protocols” (Taylor 2021). Demonstrating its potential long-term benefits on the world of forensic sciences.
This article and the ideas that it presents in the world of forensic sciences are potentially revolutionary. Although this article does acknowledge that this technology is still being tweaked in order to be more accurate and preservepreserves as much DNA as possible, it is incredible to think that this new method of extraction could allow scientists to access more than twice the amount of genetic material previously thought possible. This case study was performed on victims of war tragedies and scientists being able to identify the individuals lost would allow thousands of families closure that they are currently lacking due to modern science. I also think that it is really interesting how we have been able to convert a method of DNA extraction from historic remains to be applicable to modern crimes and forensic cases. Zavala said she and her team will continue working on the project to test the impacts of this method and trace how much mtDNA canmtDNA that can be recovered.
Overall I found this article not only very well written but also educational and interesting to read. I liked how the author chose to write the article without expressing her one opinion allowing the reader to clearly understand the science behind the extraction and the revolutionary shifts that we can expect to see. I wish, howeverwish however that she included more information about the case study and what other studies they have planed in order to incorporate this new/ remodeled technology into modern forensic practices and labs.
3 comments:
One thing that this author did well was giving a lot of context about Elena Zavala. She gave information on her education, her goals, and what she was studying. The context helped me realize the background of the article. I also liked how she gave quotes from the article to use as evidence to support her claims. This made everything more reliable and it also helped me understand the article that this author was reviewing. Finally, I liked how the author of this review didn’t give such a brief paragraph explaining what she thought about the article. Most of these article reviews don’t give much opinion- only facts and restatements.
One thing that this author could have done better on is explaining her evidence better. In the first paragraph, she states many statistics, but none are really explained at all. Another thing that the author could improve on is explaining more about the actual forensics work. She gave a brief overview but it wasn’t enough for me to gain a deep understanding of what was going on.
From this review, I learned that old remains can be significantly important in current forensics work. I never really thought about the emotional aspect within crime work, but knowing that many people can get new closure because of this new development leaves me with a different perspective.
Sofie Blazejczak, review from A Koenig current event, “can ancient DNA methods be used to improve success rate of forensic ID?”
I thought that Milly did a great job by explaining the significance of the scientists findings through various quotes which she then explained their significance and importance. Secondly, I thought that Milly did a good job on elaborating and cluck using the current events relevance: specifically, her second paragraph was excellent in describing how Elena’s scientific findings in regards to ancient DNA extraction are applicable and useful to modern forensic science. Lastly, I thought Milly wrote well on the overall case study and the scientific findings, as it was easy to read along with, and clear with the point.
I think that Milly could have improved on explaining the cause for this research If there was one), and secondly, I would have liked elaboration on how this could be significant in a forensics classroom, and how it can apply to us (rather than the general forensics field): some more opinion would be great, but no real improvements I recommend.
I find this article very interesting and think it ties back into the idea that we have to be very careful with ancient bones and how we categorize the,: it is interesting but motivational to see this kind of research taking off, as there still is so much More to learn from the past.
Elizabeth Burnell
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics (EF Odd) // Current Event 5
October 21, 2021
Taylor, Michelle. “Can Ancient DNA Methods Be Used to Improve Success Rate
of Forensic Id?” Forensic®, 1 Oct. 2021, https://www.forensicmag.com/579779-Can-Ancient-DNA-Methods-Be-Used-to-Improve-Success-Rate-of-Forensic-ID/.
Milly Koenig’s Current Event: https://bhscsi.blogspot.com/2021/10/can-ancient-dna-methods-be-used-to.html
On October 1, Milly Koenig wrote an insightful review about an article originally published in Forensic Magazine entitled “Can Ancient DNA Methods Be Used to Improve Success Rate of Forensic ID.” I really enjoyed how Koenig employed an engaging hook to grab her readers. Additionally, I appreciated her use of quotations throughout her piece, as it effectively connected her critique to its source material. Lastly, I liked how Koenig supported her claims by mentioning specific experts and examples.
Koenig’s writing is strong throughout her piece, although I did notice some areas that could be improved. Firstly, I noticed some grammatical errors within her writing that could be fixed to create a better flow of ideas. Additionally, I think Koenig could have been more specific in explaining how DNA is used to examine human evolution and population, as the topic was a bit unclear within her paragraph.
I was astonished to read about the 300,000-year-old ancient DNA within Koenig’s writing. Research and discoveries like these show how the application of forensic science does not have to be limited to the crime scene. We can continue to study the field of forensic to find new, inventive ways to utilize its principles and practices.
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