Forensic Science Update!
January 28, 2014
What have we been learning in Forensics?
We have been really busy in Forensics lately! We have been learning about skeletal remains and how Forensic Anthropologists are able to determine age, gender and race from a set of bones. We have been learning about fingerprints and how Forensic Scientists collect fingerprints from crime scenes. We learned the ridge patterns and minutiae that make up a fingerprint. We learned that even identical twins have different fingerprints and that fingerprints are formed by the 24th week of fetal development! In our fingerprint lab, we are evaluating our own fingerprint patterns and minutiae and even visualized a latent fingerprint of our own using the cyanoacrylate fuming method! We will begin learning about Forensic Chemistry, Spectroscopy and Chromatography very soon!
We learned that the femur bone is the most accurate for height estimation.
Did you know that specialists called Forensic Chemists often work to identify toxins, residues and other chemicals found at crime scenes?
We learned that courts generally accept a positive fingerprint identification with 8-12 minutiae matched within the fingerprint.
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Grades are updated continuously, so make sure that you are logging in and checking on your grades, your emails, your news updates and your schedule! Our next due date deadline is Friday, January 31, 2014 at midnight. Assignments due at that deadline may be turned in until this Friday, February 7, 2014 per the GAVS late policy! Each day that it is late, more points are subtracted from your grade, so get the late assignments turned in as soon as possible!
Christina Hernandez
Adjunct Forensic Science Teacher
Special Needs Consultant
Course Development
Georgia Virtual School
Email: christina.hernandez@gavirtualschool.org
Website: www.gavirtualschool.org
Phone: 404-981-1228