Your DNA

What makes you look different than your brother? DNA. What makes your eyes blue? DNA. What makes your hair so curly it's a waste of time to comb it? DNA. DNA ,makes us different than anyone else. OK, you have about forty secret twins in the world. It's a fact. But still, you are a unique person, created and designed by God. Some people may look like you, but there are probably some differences you don't notice because they're so small. Your DNA is unique to you, though. No one has DNA like yours. Here's an example of how unique you are. If you took one man and one woman (hypothetically speaking) you could have more combinations of genetic information than there are atoms in the universe.

Here is what scientists do to use DNA to solve a crime. They usually don't have too much to work with, DNA being so small, but they probably have something like a piece of hair.
1. Prepare the sample. (That takes a lot of work, but it's too much to go into here.)

2. They divide a special gel into columns, called lanes. They place a DNA sample at the beginning of each lane.

3. An electric current is applied. The DNA fragments move independent of each other. This causes each sample to separate into a series of bands.

4. A match of the DNA is made when the bands in a lane of known and a lane of unknown DNA match. This comparison can be made with a computer or done visually.

As I said earlier, DNA is unique to you. If you ever feel like you look like everyone else, think about that, and remember we're all unique in God's eyes, even if it does feel like we were all made in a photocopy machine.

The Validity of Documents

Forensics is the type of science detectives use to solve their cases. Some of this stuff is pretty gross. I won't go too far into that. I'm starting off today with something that isn't too gross. I'm starting with a bit on, well, to put it bluntly, forgery-type stuff. Handwriting tells a lot about us. In some countries you must give a handwriting sample to buy an apartment or get a job. Graphology is the study of handwriting. It's not scientific, but it's still interesting (and even sometimes accurate!) If you draw a circle above your "i"s instead of a dot, you're probably a person who follows the current fads. If there are big loops, the person is probably imaginative and romantic.

Forgers usually do what they do with the intent to defraud. That can include adding zeros to banknotes, changing the whatever is written in a will, or whatever. One of the different ways of being able to tell if something is different are testing the ink to see if it is different than that of the rest of the document. Holding it up to a certain kind of light works. Chemical tests work too, if you're a chemist.

Handwriting is a little easier to check than typed letters. Grammar, punctuation, and word choice all can hint at the level of the writer's education. Also, forgers sometimes have to erase things. You can't always see where they do that. That's unless you have a microscope. If you really need to know if there are any erasures, you can always get a ultraviolet or infrared light to hold it up to.(I'm joking about getting one, but that does work.)

How accurate is the study of handwriting? Let's look at a story. A psychiatrist, James Brussel, was called to investigate a series of bombings. He read the notes left with the bombs and the police reports. He predicted the man was middle-aged, paranoid, and introverted. He also said the man was likely good with tools, neat, and well educated. He was probably of Slavic descent, lived with an older relative, and when caught would be wearing a double-breasted suit. When caught, George Metesky was living with two older sisters, Polish, unmarried, and wearing a double-breasted suit.