The blowfly Chrysomya albiceps is a facultative predator, meaning that they will predate on other blowfly larvae if given the chance.
Because of this, care needs to be taken when determining postmortem interval in cases where C. albiceps have been found on the body in case they have arrived later than other species but have killed off their competitors.
Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (BPA) - Resource for Crime Writers
well you never know when this might come in handy.
(via slytherin-slitherout)
Science!
what the fuck is this science bullshit
gif 1, explosive polymerization of p Nitro Aniline Video
gif 2, Sodium Polyacrylate mixed with water Video
gif 3, Sodium Acetate Video
gif 4, the smoke is vaporized wax, can still catch fire and travels back to the wick Video
gif 5, Ping Pong balls + Liquid Nitrogen in a trash can Video
gif 6, electrical treeing
gif 7, heating Mercury Thiocyanate
gif 8, ferrofluid sculpture Video
gif 9, flammable gas lit in a glass jar Video
Reblogging again because this version has the reactions listed and links to videos etc
(Source: randomweas, via fahrlight)
Anonymous asked: Hi, I'm thinking about working in forensics. and was wondering what kind of course is best to take as undergraduate, as Forensic Science is generally only available as a masters where I'm from (the UK). I have offers to study either Biomedical Sciences or Natural Sciences as undergrad at good UK universities, which are both general science programmes. What is best then? Thanks!
There are loads of undergrad forensics courses in the UK!
I’m at Derby, my second choice was Staffs and I also looked at Nottingham Trent.
I believe Wolverhampton does one too.
So those are four off the top of my head, but there are really a ton more. Just a quick Google is showing me UCLAN, Sunderland, De Montfort, Glasgow Caledonian….
Seriously, there are loads!
If you want a forensics based course but don’t want to study pure forensics, there’s always forensics with criminology (or just criminology), computer forensics, forensic psychology…
Hope that helps!
A few months back, a small twitter hashtag got kind of crazy - #overlyhonestmethods
Its a hashtag full of scientists admitting shortcuts in research, along with the daily face palms and annoyances of a scientific lifestyle. Science is hard, yo.
I decided to steal some of the more popular tweets from the trending hashtag along with some random images of scientists from Google image search and combine them. This is the result. it works, I think.
The full album can be found here: http://imgur.com/a/x77kL
(via xylophonevesthiatus)
Anonymous asked: hi I'm also a Forensic student and the University of the Free State. You don't maybe know where I can find a precise step-by-step explanation of how to calculate PMI using isomegalen degree data, isomorphen degree data and ADD?
Good question! I didn’t have anything to hand so I did some Googling, but I haven’t been able to find much that looks to be of any real use (at least, nothing that’s particularly step-by-step). I must admit to never having used one myself so I can’t give you a method that I’ve used for it either.
If anyone has anything useful, pass it along and I’ll share it!
Stacey and I are currently coming to the end of our degrees, and we’re really busy working on coursework, exam preparation and our dissertations.
While we’ve been at university, we’ve both been involved in outreach and work in schools, as part of our jobs as student ambassadors and advocates. This weekend we worked at a science event for children held at the city library.
We had a table set up where children (and some adults!) enjoyed making their fingerprints and learning a bit about how fingerprints are formed and how they are useful in forensic science, and we also set up a mock crime scene where people could search for evidence and sketch the scene. We had some interesting guesses as to what might have happened to Bob (as we have named our demonstration dummy) - one boy suggested he might have been run over by a train and others thought he might have been poisoned. My favourite theory is that he was beaten up by a lady using her handbag!
All in all we both had a really great day, and I think I can speak for both of us in saying that we find the outreach work very fulfilling. I would recommend considering it if you get the opportunity.
That’s all for now - I’ve still got lots of work to do on my dissertation but hopefully we will be back to a more regular posting schedule after we’ve finished for the year… good luck to all those who are also coming up to the end of their degrees and see you on the other side!
hobbyist codebreaker claims to have broken the zodiac killer’s 41-year-old code
WOW
OH SHIT
THIS IS THE COOLEST SHIT.
This is actually quite terrifying
(via xylophonevesthiatus)
In the nineteenth century, a morbid and curious custom has spread to various parts of the world: the photos were ”Post Mortem”.
”Post Mortem” comes from Latin, meaning after death.
The photos ”Post Mortem” apparently originated in England, when Queen Victoria asked to photograph the corpse of an acquaintance or a relative, so she can keep as a souvenir.
soon after, this idea spread around the world, keeping a morbid reminder of loved ones that have passed on.
Even today, as strange as it may seem, some places still have this custom.The girl who is standing in the photo is the one who is dead.
This is a classic example of photographic art.
Notice the hands
for people wondering how the corpse is standing up, there is a posing stand supporting the body it’s very hard to see but the stand is supporting the neck, arms and back.
the girl in this picture has her eyes open, but in some cases the photographer will paint pupils on the eye lids to make it seem like they are wide awake
Since the eyes are the first to begin decomposing, I’d assume this is a very good example of the eyes being painted on rather than her real eyes. Some of the photographers were horrific at it, but others made it look realistic.
(via roseshock)
Killers in Cold Blood by Rodney Castleden, Ray Black, Gordon Kerr, and Ian and Clare Welch
Synopsis: Delving into the darker side of the criminal mind, Killers in Cold Blood tells of the most horrendous murders as committed by truly psychopathic men and women. These crimes are often the most frightening as they are committed with a motive which is only understood by the killer themselves, or they are a random attack with no particular motive at all. Covering aspects of cold-blooded murder from genocide to political assassinations and infanticide, this book provides the reader with a look at a wide range of interesting, if brutal, crime.
Opinion: Having an interest in many kinds of true crime, it makes a change for me to read a book which covers more than just one category of killer, for example. My edition also includes a black and white photo insert with photos from a selection of crimes detailed in the book. Whilst the information itself is engaging, the organisation of the book leaves something to be desired, although this does not present much of an issue and can be overlooked. Further to this, I found some of the sentence constructions a little strange or ambiguous, and I also found one or two instances of what appeared to be the incorrect word for the sentence at hand. I also spotted a couple of either typos or spelling errors which seem to have escaped being picked up at the proof reading stage. For those who like to fact check or go on to do further reading, there is unfortunately no reference list.
However, the negative points detailed above did not stop me from reading the book in its entirety, and it also included information about some murders which I have not heard of before. I would recommend this book to others, but with caveats - particularly regarding the standard of English throughout.
Rating: ★ ★ ★
