Blood, Bugs, and Plants, Revised Edition

Robert Gaensslen

Description

Praise for the previous edition:

"Honor Book" (Science Grades 7-12 category)—Society of School Librarians International

Blood, Bugs, and Plants, Revised Edition explores several core biological areas that have influenced modern forensic science. Entomology ("bugs") is a specialty that uses knowledge about insect life cycles to inform death investigations. Botany ("plants") is a specialty that looks at plant materials as evidence in cases. Occupying the largest part of this eBook, the "blood" section covers the identification of blood and body fluids (determining their origin as human or animal), DNA typing, and blood-spatter patterns.

Blood, Bugs, and Plants, Revised Edition takes a look at an exciting area of forensic science. Each chapter in this fascinating eBook provides an overview that briefly introduces readers to basic concepts in forensic science, allowing them to understand how this biological science sheds light on issues in legal cases. The forensic science specialty of criminalistics is also discussed in this comprehensive resource. 

Chapters include:

• History and Pioneers


• Scientific Principles: DNA and Genetics


• Forensic Analysis: Evaluation and Identification Testing of Blood and Body Fluid Evidence


• Forensic Analysis: DNA Typing


• Forensic Analysis: Bugs and Plants


• The Future.

Sujets

• Forensics
• Forensic Science
• Plants
• Young Adult Nonfiction
• Sciences et techniques
• Insect
• Biology
• Entomology
• Insects
• Médecine légale
• Nature
• Science

Informations

• Publié par: Infobase Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438182582
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Blood, Bugs, and Plants, Revised Edition
Copyright © 2019 by R. E. Gaensslen
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information, contact:
Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001
ISBN 978-1-4381-8258-2
You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.infobase.com
Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Chapters Overview History and Pioneers DNA and Genetics Blood and Fluids: Preliminary Testing DNA Typing Bugs and Plants The Future Support Materials Glossary Further Reading Index
Preface

Forensic science has become in the early 21st century what the space race was in the 1960s—an accessible and inspiring window into the world of science. The surge in popularity that began in the later part of the 20th century echoes a boom that began in the latter part of the 19th century and was labeled the "Sherlock Holmes effect." Today it is called the "C.S.I. effect," but the consequences are the same as they were a century ago. The public has developed a seemingly insatiable appetite for anything forensic, be it fiction, reality, or somewhere between.
Essentials of Forensic Science is a set that is written in response to this thirst for knowledge and information. Written by eminent forensic scientists, the books cover the critical core of forensic science from its earliest inception to the modern laboratory and courtroom.
Forensic science is broadly defined as the application of science to legal matters, be they criminal cases or civil lawsuits. The history of the law dates back to the earliest civilizations, such as the Sumerians and the Egyptians, starting around 5000 B.C.E. The roots of science are older than civilization. Early humans understood how to make tools, how to cook food, how to distinguish between edible and inedible plants, and how to make rudimentary paints. This knowledge was technical and not based on any underlying unifying principles. The core of these behaviors is the drive to learn, which as a survival strategy was invaluable. Humans learned to cope with different environments and conditions, allowing adaptation when other organisms could not. Ironically, the information encoded in human DNA gives us the ability to analyze, classify, and type it.
Science as a formalized system of thinking can be traced to the ancient Greeks, who were the first to impose systematic patterns of thought and analysis to observations. This occurred around 500 B.C.E. The Greeks organized ideas about the natural world and were able to conceive of advanced concepts. They postulated the atom (from the Greek word atomos ) as the fundamental unit of all matter. The Greeks were also among the first to study anatomy, medicine, and physiology in a systematic way and to leave extensive written records of their work. They also formalized the concept of the autopsy.
From ancient roots to modern practice the history of forensic science winds through the Middle Ages, alchemy, and the fear of poisoning. In 1840 pivotal scientific testimony was given by Mathieu-Joseph-Bonaventure (Mateu Josep Bonaventura) Orfila (1787–1853) in a trial in Paris related to a suspected case of arsenic poisoning. His scientific technique and testimony marks the beginning of modern forensic science. Today the field is divided into specialties such as biology (DNA analysis), chemistry, firearms and tool marks, questioned documents, toxicology, and pathology. This division is less than a half-century old. In Orfila's time the first to practice forensic science were doctors, chemists, lawyers, investigators, biologists, and microscopists with other skills and interests that happened to be of use to the legal system. Their testimony was and remains opinion testimony, something the legal system was slow to embrace. Early courts trusted swearing by oath—better still if oaths of others supported it. Eyewitnesses were also valued, even if their motives were less than honorable. Only in the last century has the scientific expert been integrated into the legal arena with a meaningful role. Essentials of Forensic Science is a distillation of the short history and current status of modern forensic science.
Blood, Bugs, and Plants by Dr. R. E. Gaensslen, professor, forensic science; head of program and director of graduate studies, University of Illinois at Chicago; Distinguished Fellow, American Academy of Forensic Sciences; former editor of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. This book delves into the many facets of forensic biology. Topics include a historical review of forensic serology (ABO blood groups), DNA typing, forensic entomology, forensic ecology, and forensic botany.
Each volume begins with an overview of the subject, followed by a discussion of the history of the field and mention of the pioneers. Since the early forensic scientists were often active in several areas, the same names will appear in more than one volume. A section on the scientific principles and tools summarizes how forensic scientists working in that field acquire and apply their knowledge. With that foundation in place the forensic application of those principles is described to include important cases and the projected future in that area.
Finally, it is important to note that the volumes and the set as a whole are not meant to serve as a comprehensive textbook on the subject. Rather, the set is meant as a "pocket reference" best used for obtaining an overview of a particular subject while providing a list of resources for those needing or wanting more. The content is directed toward nonscientists, students, and members of the public who have been caught up in the current popularity of forensic science and want to move past fiction into forensic reality.
Acknowledgments

I thank Dr. Suzanne Bell, the set editor, for providing me with the opportunity to be one of the authors in this interesting set of books on the forensic sciences. She brings a marvelous and infectious sense of enthusiasm for forensic science and encouragement to the project. I also thank Frank K. Darmstadt, executive editor, Dorothy Cummings, project editor, and the rest of the staff at Facts On File, who guided the process along.
Tiffany Vasquez, an alumna of the M.S. program at the University of Illinois, gathered up many photos and artwork. She is currently a full-time DNA analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in New York City. Artwork and figures are always a difficult aspect of creating any book that is designed to be a teaching aid. Another graduate of the M.S. program, Sara Melton, also contributed to collecting the photos and artwork. She is also currently employed as a DNA analyst at OCME, New York City. Their help was essential in illustrating this book.
Dr. Neal Haskell, a colleague who is a forensic entomologist in Rensselaer, Indiana, read and provided critical comments on the sections on forensic entomology.
Dr. David Stoney, a colleague who was until recently a clinical professor of forensic sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago and director of the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago, provided a figure for the section on botanical evidence.
Some drawings were inspired by and adapted from graphics on the Access Excellence @ the National Health Museum Web site located at the following URL: http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/VL/GG .
Introduction

Blood, Bugs, and Plants is one volume in a multivolume set, Essentials of Forensic Science, that explores several core biological areas of modern forensic science. In regard to this volume entomology ("bugs") is a specialty that uses knowledge about insect life cycles to inform death investigations. Botanicals ("plants") is a specialty that looks at plant materials as evidence in cases. The "blood" part is the largest part of the book. It covers the identification of blood and body fluids (determining their origin as human or animal), DNA typing, and also blood-spatter patterns.
The book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 is an overview that briefly introduces each of the specialty areas that will be covered and also presents some basic concepts in forensic science that will help the reader understand how these biological sciences can shed light on issues in legal cases. Besides identifying and DNA typing of blood and other body fluids—the main topic of this book—another aspect of bloodstain evidence is the blood patterns at violent crime scenes, which can be helpful in reconstructing the events. All the material on blood and the material on plants are part of a large forensic science specialty called criminalistics. This specialty can be thought of as the collection of scientific activities that take place in a modern forensic science laboratory. Criminalistics and some of its principles are described in chapter 1.
Chapter 2 looks at the history of the scientific subjects that are important to blood, bugs, and plants, introducing their pioneers and the contributions they made. Some threads in the analysis of blood evidence go back centuries, to the time of Dr. M. J. B. Orfila (1787–1853). He was the first person who published papers on the forensic analysis of blood and physiological fluids. During much of the 20th century forensic scientists attempted to do genetic analysis of blood, based on blood types and special blood enzymes, in order to help decide whose blood it might be. Perhaps the major pre-DNA pioneer was the Nobel laureate Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943), who discovered blood types. To get to the stage where forensic DNA typing could be a reality required advances in both molecular biology and genetics. Milestones in both these areas are presented and discussed in chapter 2, and some of the scie