FORENSICS
http://members.aol.com/jrd203/csi-forensics.htm
Forensic science careers have become more popular since the television show CSI began broadcasting. Here are resources compiled by Elyse Dickenson, a fan of the show, that are enlightening even if you have never seen the program. This index contains resources about Forensic Anthropology; Forensic Art; Forensic Entomology; Forensic Medicine/Science; Forensic Odonotology; Forensic Palynology; Forensic Photography, and; Forensic Toxicology

WIKIPEDIA ON FORENSICS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensics
Information related to forensics in legal proceedings with links to additional Wikipedia forensic science resources.

THE MASTODON PROJECT
http://www.priweb.org/mastodon/mastodon_home.html
Looking for big bones? This web site presents an overview of ongoing research and findings from three Mastodon excavation sites. Since August, 1999 the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), in conjunction with Cornell University, has unearthed the remains of two mastodons–one in Hyde Park, NY and another in Chemung County, NY. A third mastodon has been located in North Java, NY, and excavations are underway.

1. _Nature_, a PBS program is presenting “Crime Scene Creatures” during May in the Northeast viewing area. It airs Sunday, 5/7 at 8 PM on Channel 2 and repeats on Saturday, 5/13 at 11 AM. The program uses actual and hypothetical crimes to show how insects, plants and other animals are used to determine when and how a person died. There will also be a segment on the false evidence that creatures might create on a body.

2. Speaking of false evidence, I was asked to consider false evidence that might be inflicted on bones by physical processes. I immediately thought of all kinds of abrasion, which could level raised places on bones indicating old injuries or occupational damage. If you remember sea glass, once a common finding on beaches near where I grew up, it takes about 10 years I read in YANKEE MAGAZINE to create its wonderful frosty appearance and soft edges - so there’s a kind of very rough time standard. Then I thought about the disarticulation of skeletons or skeletal segments that could be caused by being carried in flows and tumbled with sand or colliding with rocks, etc. In many situations, I think that as the bones slow and come to rest, they might all be oriented in the direction of the flow that dropped them - or perpendicular to the wave crests that carried or rocked them. The ability of the flow to carry them in the first place would be dictated by the volume and speed of the flow, which would determine its carrying ability. Consider, for example, in the fans and deltas formed under glaciers and when rivers enter bays or lakes, the silt is carried as long as the volume and speed allows, then is dropped off in characteristic patterns when the carrying capacity of the flow diminishes. I didn’t have a lot of time to go surfing for URLs, but here are a few I found to be fascinating on these and related topics.
http://medstat.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/index2.html
http://paleo.cortland.edu/tutorial/Taphonomy&Pres/taphonomy.htm
I also found a site in which there was a discussion of a mass grave that revealed a massacre of Maya royalty. Researchers were actually able to tell that the wounds were from executions, not war. Seem to have misplaced the URL, though.
Lois

Hi, all. I’m Lois Kenick, a retired high school physics and chemistry teacher. My principal reason for joining this blog is to explore the role of physics in such areas of forensics as accident reconstruction, battle scene reconstructions, arson investigations and others. Physics gives us a unique platform from which to view things - for example, the force (magnitude and direction) needed to break a bone or an object in the way it found to have been broken - and forms a principal basis of forensic engineering.

My name is Lauri Thompson, and I am the Project Manager for eSkeletons.org. I am a trained physical anthropologist and an archaeologist. My area is human osteology - BONES! I am very excited about our new website (in progress) www.eForensics.info. The site is not currently live, but for the purposes of this blog you are able to reach the site through the link on the introduction page or http://webtest.austin.utexas.edu/eforensics/ this is our development server and not the actual website address.

The eForensics Project website is designed for the practical application of osteological knowledge gained from the eSkeletons.org website. eForensics.info is focused on the study of Forensic Anthropology and offers an interactive set of teaching modules that allow users to learn the standard methods in osteology (skeletal anatomy and biology) that are used to identify skeletal remains and, in some cases, the cause of death. These methods include Age and Sex Assessment, Stature and Ancestry Estimation, and observations on Pathology (disease) and Taphonomy (after death processes) and are the evaluation techniques forensic anthropologists use to gain important information from a skeleton.

eForensics, when finished, will also offer teacher lesson downloads for different age levels, focusing primarily on middle and high school. However, both sites, eForensics and eSkeletons, are designed for learners of all ages. We are excited to participate in this blog and hope to gain valuable feedback towards both the construction of the new website and information as to what lessons provide the greatest interest for students.

For a starting point, how many of you had previously heard of the term “taphonomy”? Now that you know what it means, how many different things can you think of that would affect bones post-mortem (after-death)? On a deeper level, what are some of the taphonomic processes that could possibly cause a scientist to draw an erroneous (incorrect) conclusion when analyzing a skeleton? What could some of those conclusions be?

Best,
Lauri

My name is Elizabeth Abernathy, and I am a teacher at Kealing Middle School in Austin, Texas. For the last two years I have been lucky enough to teach a semester-long elective on Forensic Science for magnet 6th graders, but the lessons I use could be adapted for almost any grade level or subject. My degree is in geology, and I am certified to teach science grades 6-12, but before I organized the curriculum for my class I had no training in forensics. Most of the lessons I use came from books in the public library, a few teacher manuals for forensic science, and a high-school curriculum passed along to me from a chance meeting at a science teacher conference. The exciting thing about teaching forensics is that more and more resources for teachers are being produced, so there are a wealth of ideas to choose from. My class is an introductory survey where we learn the beginnings of identifying fingerprints, hair analysis, forensic entomology, and which ever other topics that particular class thinks are interesting. There are even simpler mysteries that can be set up for elementary classes, such as those listed in the “Mystery Festival” book published by LHS GEMS. In the other direction, there are high-level chemistry labs found at the CourtTV website.

By posting on the NSDL website, I’m hoping to encourage other teachers to start a forensics elective at their school, or to incorporate forensics lessons into their regular classes. For example, when talking about genetics, you could do Punnett squares about blood typing. I’m also planning on having my students this semester add to my posts, and help answer any questions. They are also very excited to be a part of this project!

Add your comments to discussions and findings as the Boneyard Science discovery team talks about forensics, why it is interesting, and what students want to know as they explore the field. The experts at University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Anthropology have created an exciting new eForensics web site in development at http://www.eforensics.info.The site will encourage users to take what they learn at the eSkeletons Project web site and apply it to investigations on the eForensics site.

The discovery team will serve as tour guides and mentors for a group of middle school students who are eager to learn more about forensics. Please participate in learning more about Forensics by adding your comments and questions.