Forensics Students Examine Forensic Entomology

K. Marrinan, V. Mroz and K. Toal have begun an independent inquiry to study Forensic Entomology. They are planning to examine the insect fauna on meat samples they have placed outside overnight. After initially leaving the meat partially uncovered giving insects access, they will cover the meat and exam the growth of insects. The meat is being used to represent how insects are involved in the decomposition and decay of a human corpse if left out in the environment.The students used two different types of meat, beef liver and beef heart.

Notice the "white" eggs deposited on this piece of beef heart.

Fly examining this sample of beef heart

Flies and a cricket visiting this sample of beef liver.

Here the white material looks to be newly laid flesh fly maggots. The flesh fly is an oviviviparous layer, meaning its eggs hatch within the female's body, and living maggots are laid on their food source.

A yellow jacket is examining the beef liver.

Fly leaving the beef liver, savoring its "tastes" and cleaning its sensors on it first pair of legs

A metallic green blow fly visits the beef liver. This species of fly is oviparous, meaning it lays only unhatched eggs.

Bertillion Anthropometry Activity/Lab

The forensic science class is investigating or experiencing an early method used to identify individuals developed by Alphonse Bertillion. It involves making numerous measurement of various body parts.

Bertollinage Body Measurements by Charles Ippolito

Hair Analysis in Forensic Toxicology

http://www.forensicmag.com/articles/2013/09/hair-analysis-forensic-toxicology

          The article “Hair Analysis in Forensic Toxicology” by Dr. Lata Gautman and Prof. Michael D. Cole is about the effectiveness of hair analysis in forensic toxicology. Unlike urinalysis and blood work, hair analysis provides the tester with an in-depth description of the subject’s drug history. Hair analysis can also be used to administer DNA tests and trace poisons, even in corpses. The authors explain that hair analysis has these incredible results because of segmental analysis, which allows each single part of the hair to be analyzed individually. Hair grows slowly, usually 1 cm a month, meaning the tips of hair strands could be from months or even years ago, allowing the detection of drug use even after long periods of time. The authors point out that drug concentration could be degraded due to cosmetic treatment, but not fully eliminated. This is because hair is unique and no active metabolic function or excretion occurs in it, which is beneficial in forensic investigation. The authors explain the scientific details very well in a clear and simple way that a person unfamiliar with forensic terms would understand. The author also provides interesting cases in which hair analysis was used. One case included the exhumation of a women assumed dead by heroin abuse after post-mortem blood and urine analysis. Hair analysis was performed and it was discovered that her drug concentrations were actually much lower at the time of her death than the months before, thus refuting the previous assumption. Hair analysis is used not only in criminal investigation, but also in workplace drug evaluation and in drug abstinence monitoring. The author points out that it is not a perfect system. There are ways in which hair analysis can be unreliable, such as determining the difference between exposure and ingestion of narcotics, therefore the authors suggest taking many factors into account.

            Although the article is very well written, some things can be improved upon, such as the length of the article, as it is fairly short in my opinion. Also, I would like to see more explanation about what exactly is passive exposure to drugs compared to ingestion. The authors only mention this difference, and I am unsure of what they exactly mean, especially in a scientific sense of passive drug exposure.

            The article was fascinating to me. I never thought that a simple hair could reveal this much. I was surprised to discover that hair could show drug history from as long as 11 years ago on a dead body and how segmental analysis can show a different concentration of drugs on the length of the hair, corresponding to a certain time of drug use. 

MLA Citation:

Gautman, Lata, Dr., and Michael D. Cole, Prof. "Forensic Magazine." Forensic Magazine, 3 Sept. 2013. Web. 6 Sept. 2013. <http://www.forensicmag.com/articles/2013/09/hair-analysis-forensic-toxicology>.