Although not strictly forensic science, these Monarch butterfly caterpillars preparing for life as a butterfly are just too good to ignore. It fascinates me how they manage to produce gold decorations – I can only assume they extract the gold from the plant? Is it even gold?  (Apologies for the red date stamp).

There are three chrysalides in the first photo, relatively easy to see.

There are seven hiding in the middle photo – can you spot them all?!

The last photo is  slightly out of focus but it’s neat to see the before and after stages so close to one another. I just hope some of the dozen or so chrysalides littering the plant and proximally located potato plants actually survive. Last year we had 100% failure rate.

Given that it’s Friday, I think a bit of light scientific relief is in order.

As anyone who has anything to do with teenagers (particularly girls) will know, Vampires are the new Black.  As teenagers are wont to do, they spend much time frightening themselves with the idea that vampires are indeed real and are ready to swoop down and get us all whilst we sleep.

Fortunately for us all, Fox News has devoted time, energy and presumably money in investigating the science behind the myth that is the Vampire.  The opening of the article Are Vampires Real? The Science Behind the Myth demonstrates to us the basis for the development of the myth:  “Decomposing bodies that leaked blood must have frightened gravediggers in the past. Tropical diseases and insects that suck blood, leaving corpses wasted and desiccated, must have seemed scary to other cultures. It’s a short jump from fearful to superstitious, and there are clear biological and anthropological conditions that likely led to these fears.”

Fox News’s intrepid reporters have then investigated the mainstays of vampire life:

• avoiding sunlight – porphyria or allergy to sunlight or, more commonly, polymorphic light eruption – an immune response to sunlight,
• immortality  – apparently the activity of the telomerase enzyme in certain of our cell structures can extended the life of those cells – a chemical in our cells that may hold the secret to eternal youth, which may explain how vampires can live forever
• drinking blood – possibly related to anaemia

There’s no mention of the Holy water or silver bullet issues – bullets of any kind are pretty definitive and many people would shy away from water being thrown at them, Holy or otherwise (although I can think of a few who’d run a mile at the Holy issue).

To debunk the possibility of vampires taking over the world, a paper has been written by physicists C Efthimiou and S Gandhi (meaning someone probably had funding for this) that details a mathematical formula to describe the number of humans left after x months of vampirism spreading through a population of a theoretical size (Skeptical Inquirer v. 31, issue 4 (2007), p. 27).  Apparently, if, as legend has it, the first vampire appeared in 1600 AD, the human population would have been decimated within 2 and a half years.  Their concluding remark is that  “vampires cannot exist, since their existence contradicts the existence of human beings. Incidentally, the logical proof that we just presented is of a type known as reduction ad absurdum, that is, reduction to the absurd” – how many times an a scientist say that during their research career (or maybe I’m just in the wrong sort of science)?

So next time you have to manage a teenage nightmare or you get drawn into an endless teenage discussion about vampires, you’ll be able to settle their minds with ease.

Following my currently somewhat morbid theme of human death, putrefaction and skeletonisation (see Death’s Acre: Beyond the Legendary Body Farm by Bill Bass), I have just finished reading another jolly night-time book. It’s called Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers by Mary Roach (2004, Penguin, 304 pp).

The author presents an absorbing set of tales about what happens to the human body after it has been gifted to research. Again, it might not be for the squeamish but we’re scientists, so it’s no problem!
Each chapter is devoted to a different area of research, whether it be early anatomists, crash test cadavers (or parts thereof), development of land-mine boots, assessing the Shroud of Turin, whether or not a corpse is dead and the “live” removal of organs from a brain-dead but still-beating-heart person. My personal favourite was the opening chapter about reconstructive surgery and practicing facelifts on severed heads that yesterday had had rhinoplasty – oh, the irony of someone who had always wanted a nose job but didn’t get to have one when they were alive but gets the nip/tuck works after they’ve donated their body to medical research.  Plus think of the money they saved.

I enjoyed this book because it is written by a non-medic – she’s just an interested party who now has some amazing tales to tell at parties (although from experience I would suggest that she will have learnt quickly that one needs to assess one’s audience before launching into the details of a post-mortem).

I thoroughly recommend this book.  It’s the sort of book that can be read a chapter at a time whilst maintaining more traditional fiction books in between times.  The only problems is that at bedtime when you’re trying to distract your brain, slow it down and lull it to sleep, this book wakes it up with its interesting detail and insights into what really happens to medical research cadavers.  Will I be leaving my body to medical research?  I’m still thinking about it…..

How to remove a lightbulb using a kid’s dart is described as “a high tech process to remove a light bulb without damaging latent prints using a toy dart” (some dry humour is always a good thing in forensic science) – this is the sort of forensic technique that is not only interesting but extremely useful….and it’s exactly how it sounds!

Other useful videos on the same page include How to lift a dusted fingerprint off a body or a live person and How to use a stun gun as an electrostatic dust lifter. These videos are short and highly informative. Recommended viewing for the interested and the budding crime scene investigator.

I often receive queries about forensic DNA – how to get a job, how it works, what it’s all about.  As a result, I have trawled about the web quite a lot and encountered The DNA Initiative. It’s an American website, so some things are not immediately applicable to other countries (such as Statues and case law, but they’re still interesting).  Overall ,it seems to be a comprehensive site that explains all about forensic DNA including how it can be applied in Cold Case Reviews.