Mad Genomics

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Fabricate Your Own DNA Evidence
No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
Volunteers Let Their Genomes All Hang Out
Genetically-Engineered Trees Can Dissolve Themselves into Fuel
Should Google be Able to Read Your Genome?

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bookwench
08/19/09

In reply to Fabricate Your Own DNA Evidence
See? This just means we need more cameras. Cameras everywhere, in every aspect of our lives, to make ABSOLUTELY SURE we're all behaving in a morally appropriate fashion at all times.
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Klebert L. Hall
08/19/09

In reply to Fabricate Your Own DNA Evidence
"Frumkin says that, at the moment, there are ways to determine whether DNA evidence has been fabricated (and his own company, Nucleix, provides such tests)"

This seems to be the key phrase in the article.
-Kle.
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Ghede
08/18/09

In reply to Fabricate Your Own DNA Evidence
Of course, sequencing is getting a lot faster and a lot cheaper, maybe it is time they went for the whole thing.
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Elle
08/18/09

In reply to Fabricate Your Own DNA Evidence
I'm all for not relying too heavily on any one type of evidence, especially any that are possibly faked, but something tells me that the natural response to reading such an article as this just goes to incite panic and distrust in the system in place. That isn't good for anybody. If indeed "there are ways to determine whether DNA evidence has been fabricated," then I don't see what the problem is. Make those tests more standard in high profile cases where the only evidence is dna related and move on.
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kosai
08/18/09

@Elle: Oh no problem at all, the man inciting the panic owns the company that will perform the test.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
08/18/09

@kosai: Funny how that works, isn't it.

He will also sell you a magic rock that keeps away tigers.
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Edited by Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. at 08/18/09 3:03 PM

Greasy Thumb Guzik
08/18/09

In reply to Fabricate Your Own DNA Evidence
It's a lot simpler to pickup a bag of McDonald's waste from the street & leave it at the crime scene!
If you're lucky, the leftover food will have a DNA match in the system & fingerprints on the bag.
Or just sop up some spit from the sidewalk with a clean napkin [be sure to wear gloves in either case] & leave the napkin at the scene.
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goldfarb
08/18/09

@Greasy Thumb Guzik: this is actually a really good idea...
grab a few bags of trash from your area (including one of your own)
go to intended crime scene
commit crime
toss all the garbage all over the place

1 - you'll totally overwhelm the police/labs
2 - you stuff (including DNA) will be found, but so will that of your neighbour = reasonable doubt.
3 - sheer elegance in its simplicity.
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Illogic
08/18/09

@goldfarb: Seems better to try and not leave any of your own DNA in the first place though.
I mean, considering that it's be premeditated in this case.
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WindowlickinDaywalker
08/18/09

@Illogic: As CSI has taught us, when in doubt, use bleach.

A few years back I walked up to the checkout counter of a bix box retailer with a 5gal bucket, 1gal of bleach, a 2ft pry bar and a hand saw. Paid in cash. Cashier didn't even bat an eye, too busy talking on her cell. That was the day I started getting ideas.
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Janglesatwest
08/18/09

In reply to Fabricate Your Own DNA Evidence
That seems to require a lot of technical know-how in order to pull it off, but it is something people should be aware of. If there are tests to see in the DNA evidence has been faked in this way then those tests should be put into the SOP.
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
08/18/09

@Janglesatwest: Well, he did specify that the individual would have to be studying in the field of biology. I don’t think any old Stabby McGee would be able to get into a lab and duplicate the procedures. As a biochem undergrad I'd say I could pull off both of these. The first one is particularly easy, and I have access to a lab with all the equipment necessary . . . not that I would ever need to fake DNA evidence or anything . . . .
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Sora-Chan
12/09/08

In reply to No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
I dont know, there is some evidence supporting that they did indeed crossbreed, such as a possible hybrid skeleton that was found. Also some remains that had some DNA they were able to extract that had something quite interesting, they had FOXP2, just like we did.

For those of you who dont know what FOXP2 is, its a gene thats for languistics in humans, you know for talking to each other and what not.

Now I guess its entirly possible that they evolved it on their own (very unlikly) got it from a common ancestor as us (more likly but still unlikly) or there was some crossbreeding involved that gave one speices it.

Then theres the divergance of races in modern humans. Some scientists have said that there was too little time for there to become so many races that there are now without something interfering with the gene pool.

As for some of you who mentioned Mules being sterile, thats not always true, every once in a while a donkey/horse (Mule) hybrid, will be fertile. Given enough time and a good number of them happening, we could have fertile mules breeding with each other and their parent speices.
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lilad
12/10/08

@Sora-Chan: Races as a biological concept applied to humans is pretty meaningless.

So I don't really know what you're saying.
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corpore-metal
12/09/08

In reply to No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
Well, hmmmmmmm. Don't really know what to make of this yet. When I studied physical anthropology in school, the assimilation theory was still quite strong. The idea was that the Neanderthal peoples weren't really all that different from the rest of us.

But I guess that's going to change now.

And I think some of these comments here have the faintest whiff of racism. The reason I say that is because Neanderthals are so close to us insofar as we can deduce their physical and mental characteristics from the tiny smattering of evidence we have that they all could be due to mere ethnic variation.

Don't know what to make of this yet. I mean it's pretty hard to ignore DNA evidence.
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FREEBS72..The Flying Sumo
12/10/08

@corpore-metal: WOW, that would really be a huge argument if they found a lost group of them somewhere(talking book material here). Racism against a race that did lose the Evolutionary Race long ago.
That would bo a good read(if it was done well).
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lilad
12/10/08

@FREEBS72..The Flying Sumo: I just finished an intro physical anthropology class, and the we were told that they may have interbred but it was more likely that Homo sapiens simply replaced Neandertals.

But, it was also stressed that the Neandertals weren't that different from modern humans, and that the idea of Neandertals being brutish cavemen is wrong.
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JaviDecimal
12/09/08

In reply to No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
Are you sure?

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Rasselas
12/09/08

@I ♥ Anderson: +1. "I'm just a caveman. Your 'strikes' and 'balls' frighten and confuse me."
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Meirelle
12/09/08

In reply to No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
I'm guessing the offspring were probably sterile. You know, like Ligers.
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GiltProto
12/09/08

In reply to No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
My uncle Bob is living proof that disputes these findings.
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Liz11685
12/11/08

@GiltProto: So is my uncle Bob... I sense a trend.
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RAHfanboy
12/09/08

In reply to No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
@The_Sporean_Bob: Yeah, I gotta go with the "mule," sterile offspring theory. Many closely related species can breed in a limited fashion, and, without further evidence, I would see no reason to expect otherwise in this case.
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hidflect
12/09/08

In reply to No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
I think red hair is the product of 2 different recessive blond genes. Which is why the Scottish have so many red heads, having mixed Scandanavian and Anglo Saxon blood...
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goldfarb
12/09/08

@hidflect: another reason to keep a close eye on the Ginger Headed...and southpaws.
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Rasselas
12/09/08

In reply to No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans
Wasn't red hair one of the things that European homo sapiens supposedly inherited from Neanderthal forbears?
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