Category Archives: Forensics

Behind the Police Tape at a Forensic Science Program

This doll lists all of the symptoms of abrin, the toxin of the rosary pea (Abrus precatorius) seed. The red and black beans are often made into jewelry like the doll’s necklace. Photo by Nicholas Gerbis/KJZZ.

Every great investigator tells a story about the one that got away.

For Kimberly Kobojek, director of the forensic science program at Arizona State University’s West campus, formerly of the Phoenix Police Crime Lab, that white whale was a reddish brown stain.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Forensic Science Education at ASU: a Peek Behind the Police Tape

Tempe, ASU Team Up to Map Drugs in Wastewater

Everything – drugs included – sooner or later travels the sewers.

So Tempe and ASU plan to study wastewater as part of a public health effort to identify substance abuse hotspots and evaluate efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Tempe Partners With ASU to Detect Drugs in Wastewater

Rude Burials Might Have Fueled Blood Feuds Among Ancient Sonorans

Photo of cacti at sunset
Photo by Tomas Castelazo.

Bodies buried  in unusual postures and without funeral rites could suggest a history of revenge and blood feud in certain ancient Sonoran Desert cultures, according to a paper in the August 2016 edition of Current Anthropology.

The authors say a rude burial would have deeply distressed the victim’s family and community — and sent a message of dominance and defiance. Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:

Haphazard Burials May Suggest Revenge, Blood Feud Among Sonoran Desert Cultures

ASU Lab Takes Deep Dive into Dark Web

So 133t

The time to fix a security flaw is before it’s exploited — just ask the Clinton campaign or the World Anti-Doping Agency. So Arizona State University’s Paulo Shakarian tracks cyber threats to their origins: In the hard-to-access deep web and the secretive dark web.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
ASU Lab Tracking Cyber Threats On Deep Web, Dark Web

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: 10 Terrible Cases of Mistaken Identity

The real this isn't quite as funny.
Oddly enough, the Katzenjammer Kids are still sometimes implicated.

It’s said that we all have a double somewhere in the world. It’s a haunting thought, but almost comforting compared to the harrowing tales of identity theft we hear on the nightly news. But, hey, we live in the age of fingerprints, DNA and CSI, right? The post-911 world of ever-more Orwellian identification requirements? Surely we’ve left cases of mistaken identity firmly in the past.

You know where this is going …

10 Terrible Cases of Mistaken Identity