MetaFilter posts tagged with DNA and brokenlink

Profile my DNA, babe.

moonbird — Sat, 15 Nov 2003 08:10:21 -0800

DNA profiling may be a complex issue, but whatever your take, go ahead and try your hand at genetic sleuthing with this spiffy flash interactive.

rev- — Fri, 07 Sep 2001 09:11:02 -0800

Hoffa Hair Found In Car, Body Still Presumably In Giants Stadium So, the cops found a hair in a car they thought he was in before. Now, with DNA testing, they can prove Hoffa was "taking a ride" with Charles (Chuckie) O'Brien the last day he was alive. Film at 11.

Spanktacular — Sun, 15 Apr 2001 10:39:08 -0800

Could this actually be proof of the legendary Yeti? Scientists may have a sample of Yeti DNA. Clone this, and a wooly mammoth and you'd have one Hell of a sideshow...

aflakete — Sun, 08 Apr 2001 12:33:07 -0800

Within a year, one authority expects, a judge will declare fingerprint evidence unscientific. The Age of Genetics is upon us. I didn't know twins have identical DNA, but different fingerprints. And, for other reasons as well, fingerprinting will still be used. Just not the standard anymore.

hanseugene — Mon, 19 Feb 2001 09:38:19 -0800

Gould, earthworms and you: Stephen Jay Gould discusses the recent discovery that the human body has only about 1/4th of the DNA originally estimated. NYTimes op-ed piece. One of the best results of this discovery is that it sounds death knell of reductionist biology; as usual, the human body turns out to be more complicated than anyone could have imagined. ("Gee, we haven't explained life, the universe and everything? Gosh darnit!") I have always thought it was silly to ascribe artistic talent, criminal behaviour, musical aptitude or computer savvy to the foibles of some single gene. Now here's independent confirmation of that opinion...

So once again we find that we ourselves, and not our parents or our grandparents, are responsible for who we are and what we become...

tamim — Thu, 07 Sep 2000 00:40:05 -0800

Chromosomes to the rescue!

Steven Den Beste — Sat, 08 Apr 2000 01:18:38 -0800

"Such screenings are common in Britain, with more than 100 carried out in the last five years." You know, guns and lawyers and creationists notwithstanding, sometimes I'm really glad I live in the US and not in places that don't have a Bill of Rights.

A mass genetic screening like this would be a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

While genetic testing is permitted here, it can only be done on a suspect when there's reasonable cause to believe that that particular suspect is guilty of the crime. It requires a search warrant.

And that, in my opinion, is how it should be.