Bulletproof Skin Made From Spider Silk

 Artificial Skin Made From Spider Silk 


by Nic Halverson 

  

In her new project, 2.6g 329m/s, Dutch artist Jalila Essaidi, along with Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands, created a swatch of nearly bulletproof skin made from spider silk and human skin cells. The project takes its name from the maximum weight and velocity a Type 1 bulletproof vest can withstand from a .22 calibre Long Rifle bullet.

By grafting spider silk between the epidermis and dermis, the skin was able to stop a bullet that was fired at a reduced speed. However, it failed to repel a bullet that was fired at normal speed from a .22 calibre rifle.

But that's fine with Essaidi. She's more interested in the conversation that her project will generate.

"With this work I want to show that safety in its broadest sense is a relative concept, and hence the term bulletproof," Essaidi said in a press release. "The work did stop some partially slowed bullets but not the one at full speed."

"But even with the skin pierced by the bullet the experiment is still a success. It leads to the conversation about how which form of safety would benefit society."

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DNA Could ID Serial Killer's Victims

Chicago-area detectives are using DNA evidence to determine the identities of eight young men murdered decades ago.

The eight were victims of John Wayne Gacy, who was convicted of murdering 33 boys and young men between 1972 and 1978. He was known as the “Killer Clown” because he would dress as one for charity events. Gacy was executed in Illinois in 1994.

Although 25 of his victims were identified, eight have remained anonymous until today. Now the Cook County Sheriff’s Department wants to use DNA techniques unavailable in the 1970s to identify them.

When the murders originally occurred, the only way to identify a body was via fingerprints or dental records. The unidentified bodies were all of men in their late teens and early 20s, but officials had no dental or fingerprint records and so it was impossible to say who the men were.

Just in case dental records came to light, the pathologists at the time removed the upper and lower jawbones of the unidentified victims. Those bones were buried in 2009. Last week, investigators obtained a court order to exhume the jawbones and analyze the DNA. Of the eight remains, four contained enough material that could be successfully analyzed, but the other four could not. So detectives had to locate the graves where the bodies had been buried and exhume more remains, in those cases femurs and vertebrae.

The DNA used to identify the bodies is nuclear DNA, which is contributed by both parents. That means a match can be made with even a relatively distant relative, such as a cousin. But it still means a relative has to offer a sample to compare. The sherrif's office is asking anyone who reported a relative missing in the 1970s to come forward in the hopes that they get a match.

Some victims may not have been reported missing. One reason is that 30 years ago, the stigma against young gay men was stronger. (Gacy’s murders often involved luring young men back to his home for sex). And in other cases, the young men could have been wards of the state or had already left home before meeting Gacy. They wouldn't have been reported missing. At the same, other people had insisted their son had been a victim of Gacy, but had no evidence to back.

Now, for at least some, that question can be answered.


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by Jesse Emspak
Via Associated Press
Image: Bettmann/Corbis

The Weak Link in fingerprint IDs

Fingerprints Can Lie - The Real CSI

For more than a century, fingerprints, palm prints and sole prints have been used as identification tools by law enforcement. Collectively known as "friction ridge analysis," this forensic method involves examiners comparing the details of an unknown print with a set or a database of known prints. These details include ridges, loops, whorls and other points of similarities.

According to the National Academies of Sciences, no peer reviewed scientific studies have ever been done to prove the basic assumption that every person's fingerprint is unique. Recent studies have also shown that fingerprint examiners can be influenced by contextual bias when comparing fingerprints.

Types of Crime Scenes

There are three types of crime scene:

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1. The Outdoor Crime Scene

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The outdoor crime scene is the most vulnerable to loss, contamination, and deleterious change of physical evidence in a relatively short period of time. Individuals with access to the scene can potentially alter, destroy or contaminate evidence.

The risk is greatest when crime scene investigators fail to secure the crime scene properly. Destruction or deterioration of evidence due to environmental conditions such as heat, cold, rain, snow and wind are problems associated with outdoor scenes. Evidence that cannot be protected under these conditions should be collected expeditiously without compromising its integrity. Investigators who encounter a combination of an indoor and outdoor scene should give priority to processing the outdoor component.

Nighttime outdoor crime scenes are particularly problematic. Regardless of the quality of the light source used to illuminate the scenes, the lack of sunlight can lead to investigators inadvertantly missing or destroying evidence. Whenever possible, outdoor crime scenes should be held and secured until daylight for processing.

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2. The Indoor Types of Crime Scene

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Evidence at an indoor scene is generally less susceptible to loss, contamination and deleterious change. Indoor crime scenes are usually easier to secure and protect, and securing a scene can be as simple as closing a door. The methods used by forensic laboratories have evolved so that very small amounts of biological material can produce a usable DNA profile. This, however, means that the potential for detecting DNA traces deposited by contamination at crime scenes becomes a factor.
Contamination of any crime scene can easily occur if proper precautions, such as limiting the number of people inside the scene, are not taken. For example, first responders, emergency medical personnel, patrol supervisors, crime scene investigators, and medical examiners are all potential sources of contamination and/or loss of evidence.

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3. The Conveyance Crime Scene

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Conveyance is defined as "something that serves as a means of transportation." Types of crimes committed in conveyances include, but are not limited to:

Vehicle Burglary

Grand Theft

Car Jacking

Sexual Battery

Homicide

It is important that the crime scene investigator recognize that physical evidence recovered from these scenes may extend well beyond the conveyance itself. The flight path of the perpetrator may reveal evidence important to the investigation. For example, impression evidence, such as shoe or footprints in soil, may be found leading away from the scene, and property removed from the conveyance may be deposited or dropped as the perpetrator flees the scene.
Cigarette butts are sometimes found in and around the conveyance. The nature of the crime may give the investigator an idea of the type of evidence present. To protect the scene against inclement weather and other factors that may contribute to evidence loss and/or destruction, a conveyance such as a vehicle may be transported to the laboratory after proper documentation has been completed.

(Information provided by the Department of Justice)

Famous Forensic Cases

TED BUNDY

One of the most notorious serial killers of all time, Ted Bundy was officially linked to the murder of 36 victims, although many expert commentators believe he probably killed at least 100 women. It is widely acknowledged that the expert testimony by forensic odontologist (dentist) Dr. Richard Souviron in relation to the bite mark found on murder victim Lisa Levy; was crucial in securing the conviction and subsequent execution of Bundy.



Click Here to read The "Most Famous Bitemark Case of the Twentieth Century" by Dr Mike Bowers.

Famous Forensic Cases

New forensic tests have shown that bones believed to be the remains of French icon and heroine Joan of Arc are in fact Egyptian in origin. Forensic scientist Dr Philippe Charlier says the remains include a charred human rib from an Egyptian mummy and the thigh bone of a cat.

Dr Charlier, from the Raymond Poincare Hospital in Garches, near Paris, obtained permission to study the relics from the France's Catholic Church last year.

He used a range of scientific tests such as spectrometry, electron microscopy, and pollen analysis.

Click Here for more details.


Joan of Arc remains 'are fakes'

The bones came from a mummy, Philippe Charlier says
Bones thought to be the holy remains of 15th Century French heroine Joan of Arc were in fact made from an Egyptian mummy and a cat, research has revealed.

In 1867, a jar was found in a Paris pharmacy attic, along with a label claiming it held relics of Joan's body.

But new forensic tests suggest that the remains date from between the third and sixth centuries BC - hundreds of years before Joan was even born.

The study has been reported in the news pages of the Nature journal.

Forensic scientist Dr Philippe Charlier, who led the investigation, told Nature: "I'd never have thought that it could be from a mummy." 


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