6A the university daily kansan
news
wednesday, october 8, 2003
Neal Haskell, a forensic entomology consultant, spoke at the Kansas Division of the International Association for Identification conference yesterday on using insect life on dead bodies to determine their time of death. Members of various law enforcement agencies and schools were in attendance to hear Haskell, the keynote speaker.
Conference brings'CSI' to Lawrence
By Joe Hartigan jhartigan@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Some of the conference attendees have cut the skin around a dead person's wrist and taken the skin off like a glove.
Then they put their own hand inside the skin so they can roll the person's fingerprints.
And they've all come to Lawrence to tell others how to do it.
The Kansas Division of the International Association for Identification is holding its 27th-annual forensics conference this week in Lawrence.
Forensic scientists from states as far away as New Jersey, Utah and Minnesota are gathering with forensic scientists from
Kansas to exchange information about new forensic techniques.
"When somebody has a new technique, it's seminars like this where he's able to put it down on paper and share it," said Ron Davis, president of the Kansas IAI.
Davis said that without such conferences, forensic scientists would not be able to exchange new information and technology with colleagues.
Neal Haskell, a forensic entomologist, will be lecturing at the conference. Haskell investigates time of death by examining insects and insect eggs on dead bodies. He said by doing this, an accurate time of death can be determined.
Haskell said flies begin to lay
eggs on dead bodies almost immediately after the person dies. He described a recent case in which a man was found dead in a river and was floating face down in the river for about a day.
He said there were numerous eggs on the body already, and he was able to determine an accurate time of death.
Talia Smith, a student at Kansas State University, said she was attending the conference because she didn't know exactly what she wanted to do in the field of criminology.
"I'm looking to learn different aspects of criminal justice systems." she said.
Davis said working in forensics can be sickening, noting that sometimes crime scenes can be overrun by insects.
"Once you cover a crime scene that's actually moving and frothing, you don't want to eat for a while," he said.
Davis said forensics and law enforcement tended to be depressing jobs.
He said most forensic scientists become interested in their line of work because they come from law enforcement-oriented families or by watching television shows such as C.S.I.
"You see so many down things, so many bad things," Davis said. "That's why cops become cynical."
The final day of the conference is today at the Spring Hill Suites Marriott, 6th and New Hampshire streets.
Mapping out time with topography
By Amber Bylaray
abyarlay@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Computer program charts universe
Edited by JJ Hensley
Figuring out how the universe evolved isn't an easy thing to do. But a University of Kansas student and faculty member are trying to make that process more exact.
Sergei Shandarin, physics and astronomy professor, and Nurur Rahman, graduate student, have developed computer software that makes topographic maps of the galaxies surrounding Earth.
Topographic maps show the elevation of objects by using lines that give the objects' different helios
These lines are called contour lines and take the shape of the geographic feature being mapped. Shandarin and Rahman create topographical maps that use the brightness of galaxies, rather than altitude, to show the galaxies' size and shape.
By knowing where certain galaxies are located and what type they are, cosmologists will be able to tell how the universe has changed over time.
The computer software the two created allows them to take galaxy data other researchers have collected and put it into the computer system to create a map.
Once a map is created researchers use the contour lines to measure the area inside the lines and the perimeter of the lines. This gives them a definite number for a certain galaxy.
Rahman said this method of classifying galaxies with numbers was much more exact than the method commonly used to classify galaxies.
This number is then associated with a specific type of galaxy, such as spiral or elliptical.
Scientists generally look at the shape of the galaxy to decide what type of galaxy it is. By using the topographic maps to measure the
"Cosmologists look at the universe on a big scale as in how the bigbang happened and how matter evolves."
Nurur Rahman graduate student
galaxies, Rahman and Shandarin are able to give more accurate classification information for the galaxies.
"You can put a number to it," said Brian Thomas, physics graduate student. "It has this parameter value so everybody looks at it in the same way instead of what they think it looks like."
Knowing the exact type of galaxy would help scientists study the evolution of the universe, Shandarin said.
Figuring out exactly how the universe evolved is what Shandarin, Rahman and other cosmologists want to do.
"Cosmologists look at the universe on a big scale as in how the big-bang happened and how matter evolves," Rahman said.
The new topographic maps and the more exact information provided will help cosmologists determine the universe's evolution because they can be more sure of the types of galaxies in the universe and their locations.
Rahman and Shandarin published information about their computer software and 16 galaxies they had mapped in April 2003.
Shandarin said he and Rahman were working on a second paper that should be published within the next six months and would give examples of 112 galaxies. After publishing that paper, the two hope to publish a third paper about galaxy clusters.
Common chemicals endanger algae
Edited by JJ Hensley
By Amber Byarlay
abyarlay@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Every time you brush your teeth,you could be damaging the world around us.
Researchers at the University of Kansas have found that certain ingredients in over-the-counter and prescription drugs create problems in the environment.
The drugs, triclosan, Tergitol NP 10 and ciprofloxacin, were found to kill algae. The researchers believe killing the algae will damage multiple animals because algae is a basic part of the food chain.
Triclosan is a common ingredient in toothpaste and acne
Ciprofloxacin is an antibiotic that is used to treat a variety of bacterial infections.
soaps and Tergitol NP 10 is used in hair dyes and spermicide.
The drugs reach the bacteria and animals through the water supply.
Drugs enter the water when people taking them use the bathroom or allow the chemicals to go down the drain, for example by brushing their teeth.
Ciprofloxacin is not fully processed by the human body, which means that unused portions of the drug leave the body through waste.
Brittan Wilson, former University graduate student, was the project's main researcher.
To do the study, Wilson took water from the Cedar Creek River near the Olathe waste water treatment plant. In the lab, Wilson put the three drugs into test tubes of the river water.
Wilson discovered that not only did the drugs, especially Tergitol, kill many types of algae that fish eat, but that some of the algae evolved and adapted to having the drugs in the environment.
The U.S. Geological Survey and Environmental Protection Agency are collecting data from numerous research groups on how commonly used drugs are impacting wildlife.
The original study by USGS on drugs' effect in the environment didn't include Tergitol. Val
Smith, one of the project's researchers, said he thought the USGS was considering testing the effects of Tergitol after Wilson's research results were published.
Water treatment procedures fail to eliminate the drugs.
The reason that treatment plants don't screen out the drugs is because they are not designed to, said Smith.
Until more research is done and the geological survey and EPA are sure that the drugs damaged the environment, Smith said little would be done to screen the drugs out of water or take them off of store shelves.
Edited by Neeley Spellmeter
Man who raised tiger longs for pet that bit him
NEW YORK — A man who raised a tiger in his New York apartment limped out of a courthouse on a badly bitten leg Tuesday, wishing he could be reunited with his wild pet.
"I'd love to see my tiger," Antoine Yates said of the 400-pound cat as he left state court, released without bail. "He didn't really attack me. He got confused and I got caught in the crossfire."
Yates, 31, faces a charge of reckless endangerment and two counts of possession of a wild animal. Conviction for reckless endangerment carries a sentence of up to seven years.
Judge Melissa Jackson rejected a prosecutor's argument that Yates should be held
nation
They also found a 5-foot-long alligator. Both were tranquilized and removed to sanctuaries.
Defense lawyer Raymond Colon said his client lied to hospital doctors in New York, saying he had been bitten by a pit bull.
Yates, a bitten arm hanging in a sling, appeared tired as he described how Ming, an orange and white Siberian-Bengal mix, attacked him last Wednesday in an apparent attempt to get at a pet kitten in the apartment.
Animal control officers, police and Bronx Zoo workers on Saturday captured the 20-month-old tiger, which had been kept in the fifth-floor apartment in Harlem since he was a 6-week-old cub.
- The Associated Press
on $15,000 bail because he lied about his injuries to doctors and then fled to Philadelphia.
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