Strange thought....

[Shanarana]

I watch Forensic Files a lot because I am so amazed at how they figure out crimes by just the smallest clue. Most of the time there is a "hair" that is found and a person can be found by just that. Which got me to wondering how many places I have been and have deposited some of my hair, and who I may have rub against someone and left a hair on them...........kind of scary I guess. I don't know, just a random thought. I have those from time to time.:shrug:

[Ohio Sky]

Lol, in all reality, hair is one of those "circumstantial evidence" things that dont necessarily mean anything in real life investigations. Fingerprints at least show that the person matching them was there, hair can float in on a breeze. It is weird to think, but you could pass some one in a grocery store, and one of your hairs could end up on their shirt on a plane across the country. Your hair could be all over the world.
"Ever been to London?" "No, but my hair has!"

Ive seen murder situations like what they show on shows like that, and from personal experiece, I think that if they dont already have a good idea of what happened and some amount of evidence, they generally just label it a suicide and call it good. :shrug:

[longinthehair]

As you shed different places, always think of it as "just leaving some of your DNA behind..here and there"

[MyFireElf]

I find long hairs all over my home, my car, and my desk at work*, and I wonder where they all came from since I never noticed shed hairs when they were short.

I guess we leave little bits of ourselves everywhere we go (hairs are just the most noticeable traces), but wouldn't it be cool to see a CSI-type show use the extreme length of the hair to help point them toward the killer?



*Off topic - I once had a co-worker say "Here this is yours" and hand me a shed hair that had fallen on his desk. Obviously it was mine, but what am I gonna do with it? Tuck it back into my ponytail? :confused:

[AJoifulNoise]

As you shed different places, always think of it as "just leaving some of your DNA behind..here and there"

Hehe, that's usually exactly what I think!

[Jeni]

Hee I love Forensic Files! I watch all those shows, my mother thinks I studying to learn how to kill people (I'm not).

I had a best friend in HS who had long, thick, gorgeous, ginger hair. I loved it. I never measured how fast it grew, but it was insanely fast. Anyway, she would shed a lot, and you would find it everywhere, doesnt matter how much you cleaned, it would show up again. So the other day I was cleaning my car and I found a long red hair. I haven't seen her in about 5 or 6 years, but her hair is still in my car. And I vacuum my car out usually every other month. Heaven help her if I ever wind up dead!

Jeni

[Xandergrammy]

I never thought much about leaving my DNA behind, but I LOVELOVELOVE Forensic Files. The man who narrates it has the most soothing voice. Sometimes I tape the show just so I can listen to his voice to fall asleep. Truth.

[physicschick]

I guess we leave little bits of ourselves everywhere we go (hairs are just the most noticeable traces), but wouldn't it be cool to see a CSI-type show use the extreme length of the hair to help point them toward the killer?

I have this daydream that someday the mod team will be contacted by the police to help with an investigation, since a floor-length hair will be found at the crime scene. Since we know who all the people with floor-length hair are on this site, we will be able to help them. The main problem with this daydream is that I don't think any LHCers are likely to be commiting serious crimes. :lol:

(If you think this is weird, believe me, this is not my weirdest daydream. :crazyq: )

[Sillage]

Which got me to wondering how many places I have been and have deposited some of my hair, and who I may have rub against someone and left a hair on them...........kind of scary I guess.

If you think that's scary you should see this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/science/03dna.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) from the NYT. It's amazing to think how much of ourselves we leave all over the place. Hair isn't the only thing we're shedding!


I have this daydream that someday the mod team will be contacted by the police to help with an investigation, since a floor-length hair will be found at the crime scene. Since we know who all the people with floor-length hair are on this site, we will be able to help them. The main problem with this daydream is that I don't think any LHCers are likely to be commiting serious crimes. :lol:


:bigeyes:

[Dianyla]

Oh, I'm sure my DNA is everywhere I've been by now. :uhh:

In fact, it's even gone places I haven't! Trolleypup was just telling me that he found one of my 4+ foot strands wrapped around the controller of the Boat (http://www.streetcar.org/mim/streetcars/fleet/antique/228/index.html).

And I've never even seen that streetcar, let alone ridden on it. :eek:

[Shanarana]

If you think that's scary you should see this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/science/03dna.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) from the NYT. It's amazing to think how much of ourselves we leave all over the place. Hair isn't the only thing we're shedding!



:bigeyes:

Very interesting reading. I find myself split in my feelings about that. If child molesters, rapists, and murderers are off the street than that is all fine with me. I guess the concern I would have is if it is taken to an extreme that innocent people begin getting blamed for things they haven't done.

[Kleis]

I have this daydream that someday the mod team will be contacted by the police to help with an investigation, since a floor-length hair will be found at the crime scene. Since we know who all the people with floor-length hair are on this site, we will be able to help them. The main problem with this daydream is that I don't think any LHCers are likely to be commiting serious crimes. :lol:

Dianyla did it. :agree: Okay, maybe Denise. She looks like trouble. :lol:

Problem is, they're both on the mod squad! The plot thickens! Are you sure you're not an accessory?

[physicschick]

I am innocent! Innocent, I tell you!

[goodenough]

I think about this, too. When I was in college, we spilled foil confetti on our dorm floor. My two roommates and I were shocked that by the next night, we had seen the confetti all over the college!! It was funny--who was at the salad bar, who went to the library--the post office. It was like Hansel and Gretel.

[Sillage]

Very interesting reading. I find myself split in my feelings about that. If child molesters, rapists, and murderers are off the street than that is all fine with me. I guess the concern I would have is if it is taken to an extreme that innocent people begin getting blamed for things they haven't done.

It's certainly a complex issue... but the thing that stuck me most about the article was that it really drove home the point that we are leaving DNA all over the place all the time and there's nothing we can do about it. It's pretty amazing.

[Curlsgirl]

My DH just found a strand of my hair wrapped around a cactus in our kitchen! :shrug:

[Lizbot]

While I am leaving my DNA everywhere, I prefer to think of it as providing housing materials for birds. I like the thought of my hair composing birds' nests.

[Jeni]

I think about this, too. When I was in college, we spilled foil confetti on our dorm floor. My two roommates and I were shocked that by the next night, we had seen the confetti all over the college!! It was funny--who was at the salad bar, who went to the library--the post office. It was like Hansel and Gretel.

Speaking of confetti. My 5 year old cousin LOVES princess costumes and one of her's (beauty and the beast) was getting old and dropping sequins everywhere. My uncle does a lot of traveling for his job, he said he took some (stuck to him) to Germany, Peru, England, Mexico and Chili. I took some back to VA from NC, to CT and NY. We got a beach house last year, brought some with us on that trip. I think my uncles goal is to have the sequins on every continent. We haven't figured out quiet yet how to get one to Antartica, but my Bio teacher did research there, she says you can get a job there......So if y'all ever see a small round gold sequin in like an airport, yea that might me from my family.

Jeni

[ale]

I've had the same thought!!!
Considering I don't brush my hair every day, you'll find those 30 inches strands of mine everywhere! Someone could use them to accuse me.
But then, there are other ways I've been thinking about, and are a little bit TMI for this forum, maybe...!

[willowcandra]

Hee I love Forensic Files! I watch all those shows, my mother thinks I studying to learn how to kill people (I'm not).


Jeni

Lol my friend has a bookshelf full of crime investigation stuff at one end of her living room and used to have 35 or more full grown spiders (some quite poisonouse) at the other end. Many a person has been freaked out by entering her home.

I think it's weird leaving my hair places. I never thought I could be implicated in a murder though:eek:

[Xandergrammy]

I like the thought of my hair composing birds' nests.


I like this idea too!

[Altocumulus]

*Off topic - I once had a co-worker say "Here this is yours" and hand me a shed hair that had fallen on his desk. Obviously it was mine, but what am I gonna do with it? Tuck it back into my ponytail? :confused:

Something similar happened to me once. I said, "Keep it, I've got more where that came from." :p

[atlantaz3]

Can they get dna from the hair? I thought they needed part of the root?
And on a dna note - I saw a fascinating show on the Discovery channel where they did a dna check of a parent and sons. Two of the sons were hers and one wasn't - however she had carried all three children. In her case dna taken from various areas of the body produced different results. I can't remember the details of the other mother profiled exactly but one of her children's dna didn't match and welfare was trying to take the child away (thinking she had kidnapped the child). She was pregnant again and that child's dna did not match hers either. It was very interesting to watch and got me thinking a lot about all those Bones CSI shows.... ( and the number of people in jail or may really be innocent....)

[purplebubba]

Can they get dna from the hair? I thought they needed part of the root?

Not anymore. They now can do Polymerase chain reaction to make copies of very small samples so they can get DNA from the shaft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCR