by blogger jgl
The Bring Your Own Slides session is often a highlight of the AAFS annual meeting. This year was no exception. The BYOS session is an opportunity for forensic scientists to share interesting stories from their work. There is always a mix of entertaining, light stories, along with more somber stories that are part of the profession (medical examiners are usually featured).
This session was hosted by Dr. Michael Baden of HBO's Autopsy. I think he usually hosts it. His talks are always good. Tonight he didn't have a feature, but threw in good comments throughout.
One of the top talks was by Sam Brothers, a computer forensics guy from US customs. He is a magician! I liked the card counting demonstration.
The feature of his talk focused on cell phone/GPS forensic work. iphones are unique for retaining voicemail in the phone... windows washer doesn't wash log files... a smashed (or chewed) sim card can still be analyzed... and your GPS knows where you are and where you've been. technology helps the good guys!
The always entertaining Mark Benecke (www.benecke.com) gave a "fun" talk on a german cannibal. He pointed out that cannibalism can be a tricky category when it comes to charging the crime. Homicide doesn't necessarily fit when a person volunteers to be killed and eaten by another person. Trust me, the details are even weirder than it sounds.
The real bones herself, Kathy Reichs stopped by and told a neat story about how research for one of her books helped lead to an answer in one of her cases. I'm not sure if i have the details right, but basically while researching a deceased Canadian who died in a Guatemalan civil war and a past leper community on Tracadie in New Brunswick, the local press (and possible accompanying documentary) led to someone coming forward admitting to raiding a graveyard when he was a 12-year-old kid. After a couple failed pranks, the bones were ditched in some woods. Years later, in 1989, the skull wound up in kathy reichs' hands and has remained unidentified. eh... i think i messed up the story... maybe it will be featured in an episode of bones.
other good talks as well. Did you know Dickens worked for a coroner? and wrote some articles for the Lancet?
by blogger jgl
Pictures later. I forgot the camera cable, although i noticed a radio shack on the 16th street mall.
I arrived at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences annual meeting (convention) on wednesday. I wonder if there is any chance that people will start to refer to this as For Sci Con or FSC for short...
One noticeable improvement was that the conference organizers had many bulletin boards available to the "public". In recent years there have been as little as 3, covered with junk.
The cybercafe was also terminal plentiful, and not that crowded. Perhaps it was just due to the time of day. Perhaps it is due to the fact more and more people have their own laptops... or netbooks. I didn't try out the wifi in the convention center (if it exists). I'm in a hotel that is a couple blocks from the convention center and notice that there is something called DowntownDenverWifi. Great! Except i can't get the DowntownDenverWifi to work. maybe it is just my laptop...
One potential non-improvement is the poster session. My complaint is that the posters are usually too close together. there isn't enough room to move around. Tonight, the 31 toxicology posters were neatly arranged in a closet. at least they took the coats out. when i left, i was wearing someone else's shoes... i don't know what that means.
the denver convention center is very nice and i was impressed with the 16th street mall. for those who never have been to denver the 16th street mall is basically where 16th street is closed to traffic for 6 or so blocks (except for the buses). shops and food, etc.
And the new AAFS webpage is really nice.
good start!
by blogger jgl
Following Sen. Biden was the US Senate Sgt. at Arms Terrance Gainer. He was a lively fellow, even volunteering to entertain the crowd during some technical difficulties. Sgt. at Arms Gainer is an experienced law man; it was interesting to hear his take on what was currently important in forensic science.
He began by talking about low copy number (or touch) DNA analysis. He was very impressed with the potential for recovering DNA from triggers, steering wheels, etc. I'm still wondering how well this works in the real world. It looks like most researchers get mixed results.
He also mentioned the DNA initiative and the DNA backlog that needs to be resolved.
He mentioned the need for proper training of law enforcement personnel, especially in rural areas. This was good to hear since communication between the evidence collectors and lab scientists is needed in the field. It's probably a surprise to much of the outside world that it is not one person taking samples from the cradle to the grave (like on CSI). As a lab scientist, I know very little about the training and thought processes of officers in the field and I'm sure the officers have a limited knowledge of the scientists as well.
Mr. Gainer also touched on some new methods, like familial searches, and it was good to hear the necessary caution against rights to privacy of citizens.
He capped it off by repeating Sen. Biden's comment that it is now time to expand funding of forensics beyond DNA to other areas of the lab (applause).
by blogger jgl
Although the annual American Academy of FOrensic Sciences conference has had various meetings/workshops going on since saturday, today is the day the vendors roll in and scientific poster sessions begin.
The day kicked off with the Keynote Session at 9am. First up, a video pep talk from Sen. Joe Biden.
Although overall the talk was a typical pat on the back, the high-ranking Senator did have some interesting things to say. He specifically mentioned the CSI effect, sympathizing with the often unreasonable expectations forensic scientists must face. He mentioned the DNA initiative (didn't it used to be the "President's" DNA Initiative?). He also started a trend of specifically stating that although past funding for DNA has been great, it is now time to expand that funding to other non-DNA areas of forensic science. He also specifically mentioned the accreditation of forensic science programs, perhaps indicating that some forensic science programs need to tweak their goals. FInally, he recognized the fact that forensic science continues to grow (need for continued funding).
more news and corrected pics to come...
