You’ve all seen that show.
Good guy reads the paint splatter on the wall, tests the DNA, and bags the killer all within
50 minutes.
But how much of that is close to real life?
Hey future serial killers,
We all think that’s how solving crimes works right?
The killer is an idiot who leaves minuscule traces of his DNA all over the place and crime
scene investigators use the latest tech to catch the bad guy.
While this happens in Hollywood, it’s not reality.
And unfortunately, many people can’t tell the difference.
This is what’s called the CSI effect.
It’s when these shows influence how the administration of justice plays out.
Many jurors expect and demand that crimes be solved by super tech that doesn’t really
exist.
But through a mix of old and new techniques science is helps solve even the most heinous
of crimes.
You might be surprised how much you can tell from a drop of blood.
When you get your blood drawn at the doctor’s and shipped off to be tested, a lot can be
revealed.
From your blood cell count, your glucose and cholesterol levels, tests can tell if you
have certain diseases or viruses.
It can even tell you your biological age, not just your chronological age, according
to a study published in the journal Nature.
Things like bad diet, low exercise and stress can make your body’s cells appear older
than how many trips around the sun you’ve taken.
But that’s blood collected in a precise, clinical way, blood stains on hotel room carpet…
different story.
Blood can tell a story of a crime.
Blood spatter allows investigators to recreate the events that unfolded.
It’s actually an old science, the first systematic study of bloodstains was published
at the University of Vienna in 1895, titled “On the formation, form, direction and spreading
of blood stains resulting in blunt trauma at the head”.
But over the decades, it’s gotten much more advanced.
The field uses a mix of math and science to figure out what happened.
According to the book “Principles of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis” bloodstains can be divided
into three categories: passive/gravity, spatter and altered.
Passive is like it sounds, like blood pooling under a victim.
Spatter on the other hand, well the type of blood spatter can sometimes tell where an
injury was.
Expirated bloodstain patterns comes from more “natural” occurrences like by breathing,
spitting and coughing up blood.
You can find bubbles in these stains from air pockets and it might be a lighter color
from being diluted from saliva.
Altered means, like you would expect, that the stain has been altered in some way, like
an object being dragged across it or an attempt at a clean up.
According to a study in SIAK-Journal - the Journal for Police Science and Practice, impact
spatter patterns indicates something traumatic, like a gunshot, blunt force trauma, or from
machinery.
The blood drops extend outward from a point in direct lines.
If it’s an impact spatter, it’s very likely that there was more than one blow, as the
first blow never spreads much blood.
But the effectiveness of such analyses are really varied.
Depending the amount of blood, a vague idea of a weapon, whether is was blunt or sharp
or a bullet can be determined.
The location and pattern of the blood can give investigators an idea of angle, velocity,
and trajectory of the blood.
By analyzing these kinds of patterns, they get an idea of how hard the force of impact
was or what angle the attack came from.
And of course if there’s enough blood, you can even find out someone’s identity.
DNA analysis is considered the “gold standard” of crime scene investigation reliability.
But it took awhile for that technology advance.
In the 70’s, the only thing they could tell was which type of blood it was.
Which depending on the type could narrow the suspects down to 4 to 49% of the population.
Now using polymerase chain reaction, PCR technique, which takes a small piece of DNA and multiplies
it hundreds of times so it’s easier to “see’” and analyze.
After PCR, DNA then goes through a process called gel electrophoresis which makes it
easy to compare DNA samples.
You’ve probably seen these on TV or maybe in your own biology lab.
The gels looks like columns with little lines that trap certain lengths of DNA fragments
in different sections.
By comparing how these lines match up to known or unknown other known, researchers can either
remove someone as a suspect or nail the sucker down.
While blood can tell the story of a crime scene, the right domain name will tell yours.
No domain extension will help you tell your story like a DOT COM or DOT NET domain name.
And because you watch DNews, you can get 15% off Domain Dot Com’s names and web hosting
by using the code DNews when you check out.
Of course if evidence of the crime is wiped away with bleach, you’re screwed.
Or are you?
To find out how blood can make a crime scene light up like the night sky, check out this
video right here.