STEM(in) with Steph

Forensic Science  - Fingerprints! Continuing on with our Forensic Science theme, this month's blog is all about Fingerprints!  Fingerprints are another source of evidence that crime scene tech's collect on site to later review in hope's of connecting a suspect to the crime scene.   Fingerprints are the ridges that cover our finger pads, but we also have ridges on our palms, feet, and toes too!  All these prints are collectable forms of evidence when found at crime scenes, because all prints are unique to the owner.  Even Identical Twins will have their own set of unique prints between them.   However most prints are more than just a ridge smudge left behind by your body.  Our skin is covered in pores that produce varying amounts of oils.  Our pads (hands/feet) produce a high amount of oil which covers print ridges.  When we touch a surface, the ridge marks are transferred to the surface via the oil exchange.  Our oils wil...

  DNA is the building blocks to all life Deoxyribonucleic-Acid, or DNA for short, is the genetic material that forms the basis of all life.  Without DNA, you would basically be a rock (i.e. rocks are not living and therefore don't have DNA).  Another way to think of DNA is to compare it to a building's blueprint; it is the instruction manual for constructing life.   DNA lives in the nucleolus of every living cell.  It takes the form of a double helix structure, usually depicted in a counter-clockwise rotation (upwards).  Some might refer to its unwound shape as a ladder, with two sugar phosphate 'sides' and rungs made of 4 nucleotide bases joined 1:1: Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, Guanine.  Unique is also the fact that if you look at the 'rungs' of DNA, Adenine will only pair with Thymine, and Cytosine will only pair with Guanine.  If you really want to get minuet, the whole of DNA is purposefully designed based upon the use of the 5 ...

  Have you ever watched CSI (Crime Scene Investigation)?  It was (is?) a fictional crime drama that invited viewers to follow the process behind crime scene investigations, evidence collection, lab analysis, and eventually apprehending the bad guys!  Another similar program, yet often more realistic as to timelines, is Forensic Files.  Unlike the fictional TV show, Forensic Files shared true case files and the real people who had a hand in solving them.  Where as the TV drama makes it look like evidence review and lab results lead to closed cases every few days, the real investigators make it very clear to audiences that in reality, it can take weeks, months, and even years for evidence to lead them to the crime perpetrator, if ever... Either way you like to watch your crime TV, both shows are exciting as they share the secrets behind solving the mystery!  Both use real life terms, evidence collection methods, lab techniques and machinery, and good old...