Glyptodon bones were uncovered on the banks of the Reconquista River in the Buenos Aires area of Argentina.  They weighed ~660 pounds and measured almost 6 feet long. They were covered in armored scales and would have been one of the smallest Neosclerocalyptus in that area at that time. Researchers used radiocarbon dating to learn that these animals died between 20,811 and 21,090 years ago. While cleaning the bones they found 32 straight cuts which were similar to incisions made by stone tools. These cuts were found on places that would’ve had the most amount of meat. This evidence suggests that humans were present in Argentina at least 21,000 years ago which is way earlier than we previously thought. There are concerns with the absence of human made artifacts found with these bones but there are plans to excavate surrounding areas. But if scientists are able to find additional evidence to confirm these conclusions it would be quite revolutionary, in terms of human history.  

Was This Giant, Armadillo-Like Animal Butchered by Humans in Argentina 21,000 Years Ago? | Smithsonian 

In early November 2024, authorities in New Mexico announced that they have discovered at least 10 human skulls inside and around a property in New Mexico belonging to a man named Cecil Villanueva, after a resident of the town reported an interaction with him to the police. In the police report, the resident said that Villanueva was carrying two bags and made "made alarming statements" as he "discarded objects from the vehicle, some of which appeared to be human bones". Because of this alarming report, police obtained a search warrant of Villanueva's property. When they conducted the search, police found numerous bone fragments around the property, which the pathologist confirmed were human.

The police have said that, at least so far, they have uncovered remains of between 10 and 20 different human skulls. 

Reportedly, Villanueva claims that he purchased the skulls online, however, law enforcement has also stated that this case is being "closely tied" to the disappearance of a woman named Angela McManes, who went missing from an area nearby the property that the remains were found. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/human-skulls-new-mexico-missing-woman-angela-mcmanes/ 

A formal apology was given to Inuit in Nunavik on behalf of Canada and its role in the 1950s and 1960s mass killing of sled dogs in the region.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Gary Anandasangaree, gave a 15 minute speech at the community centre of Kangisqujuaq in Nunavik, noting “it should not have taken decades for Canada to apologize to Nunavik Inuit.”.

An apology on behalf of the RCMP’s role was given in 2019, however, no accountability was taken for the role the federal government played and the harm they caused.

Financial compensation of $45 million from the federal government is expected which will be used toward “direct compensation to survivors and initiatives to revitalize the culture of dog team ownership in Nunavik.”[1].

From the mid-1950s until the late 1960s, thousands of Inuit sled dogs, or qimmi(i)t as they’re known by Inuit, were killed by authorities. Sled dogs were vital to Inuit survival, living nomadically, and they lived freely and respectfully with Inuit. In addition to Inuit children being mandated to attend school, Inuit found themselves forced to settle and sedentarize in centralized communities with the killing of their sled dogs. It’s estimated that approximately 1,200 to 20,000 sled dogs were killed, with the RCMP saying it was for “public health and safety” and that they were enforcing the Ordinance Respecting Dogs (which made it illegal for dogs to run loose in certain areas). 

This apology is another small step towards reconciliation. 

[1] Krymalowski, S. (2024, Nov 23). Canadian government apologizes to Inuit in Nunavik for mass killing of sled dogs. CBC News. 

[2] Michelin, O. (2019, Nov 28). Canadian Inuit Dog. The Canadian Encyclopedia.

[3] Johnston, L. (2019, Feb 11). Qimmiit (sled dogs). Library and Archives Canada Blog. 

19 year old Gursimran Kaur was found in a Walmart bakery oven on October 19, 2024. She was found by her mother who also worked at the Walmart on Mumford Road Halifax. Her mother started looking for her when Kaur wasn’t answering her phone. 

Police arrived at the store at 9:30 p.m and she had been removed from the oven by the time the first responders arrived. Halifax Regional Police have said that there is no evidence of foul play. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be more investigations into her death.

The president of the eastern provinces council of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said that if homicide is ruled out, then a thorough investigation is needed into the safety practices of the store and whether adequate inspections were carried out by the Labour Department. Over the last 5 years, labour investigators have conducted 9 inspections at this Walmart. However, no action was taken after these inspections. 

The oven has also been removed from the store which had been the plan even before she died as they were undergoing renovations. The Walmart was still closed as of December 3rd, with no known reopening date. I’m not sure if it has opened as of posting.

A GoFundMe raised $194,449 to help bring her father and brother to Canada following this tragedy. They are no longer accepting donations. Our thoughts are with her family and the Sikh community.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/police-say-walmart-worker-death-not-suspicious-1.7383140 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/walmart-death-halifax-gursimran-kaur-1.7362013 

Information coming soon...

On September 25, 2024 a 272 kilogram dinosaur skull was excavated near Grande Prairie, Alberta. They call it “Big Sam” and it’s skull is around the size of a baby elephant. 

Big Sam is a Pachyrhinosaurus which is a smaller, older cousin of the triceratops and is endemic to the Grande Prairie region. Instead of having a horn on their nose like a triceratops, they have a big bony bump called a ‘boss’. They also have these bony bumps over their eyes as well. 

It was found in a dense bonebed that belonged to a herd that died together on the edge of a valley. Excavators have found hundreds of juvenile bones in this bone bed as well. 

This bone bed was first discovered 50 years ago but it took nearly a decade before anyone came to look at what it has to offer. However, once they started excavating and searching around, they learned that it is one of the densest bonebeds in North America as it contains 100-300 bones per square meter. 

They’ve found turtles, dinosaurs, lizards, and another large pachyrhinosaurus skull in this area. The dinosaurs are thought to be the elders of the herd. 

The extraction of Big Sam was very difficult because it was intertwined with about 300 other bones. The skull was found upside down and resulted in the preservation of certain features such as the braincase and palate region of the skull. This is exciting because in other skulls those regions have been destroyed. 

The excavation process involved putting plaster on the skull and wooden planks around it for stability. It was then lifted very carefully out with a crane and taken to the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum for further study. 

Paleontologists unearth giant skull of Pachyrhinosaurus in Alberta | Globalnews.ca 

A research article published in January 2024 by the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science in January 2024 answers this exact question about using Artificial Intelligence in a forensic setting. While working with an AI system known as deep contrastive network, an undergraduate student trained his AI on a US Government database of 60,000 fingerprints. Initially, it appeared that the AI was making a lot of mistakes, connecting fingerprints that did not seemingly match. However, when looked at closer, they found that the AI was making fingerprint pairs that belong to the same person, but were on different fingers! Although the AI did make errors, especially in the beginning, it was quickly noticed that it was achieving identifications that humans have been attempting and failing to figure since we learned fingerprints can be used for identification. 

The researchers kept training the system, and found that at its current state, their AI is making accurate pairs of fingerprints 77% of the time, of not only completely identical fingerprints, but also of the fingerprints of different fingers on the same persons hands. But how is AI doing this? According to the lead researcher: "The AI was not using 'minutiae,' which are the branchings and endpoints in fingerprint ridges -- the patterns used in traditional fingerprint comparison [...] Instead, it was using something else, related to the angles and curvatures of the swirls and loops in the center of the fingerprint."  

So basically, how investigators currently identify matching fingerprints is by a certain number of matching or highly similar minutiae (little patterns and designs throughout your fingerprint that make it unique) by comparing an unknown fingerprint to a database of known prints. The AI was not looking for matching minutiae, however, but was instead analysing the angles and curves of the pattern in the centre of the fingerprint (the most common patterns being loops, whorls, and arches).

Of course at this time this is still early research and cannot be used in a real investigation because it has not been tested and refined, but it opens up huge possibilities for the future use of AI in forensics!

Guo, G., Ray, A., Izydorczak, M., Goldfeder, J., Lipson, H., & Xu, W. (2024). Unveiling intra-person fingerprint similarity via deep contrastive learning. Science Advances, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi0329. 

Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science. (2024, January 10). AI discovers that not every fingerprint is unique. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 6, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/01/240110120225.htm. 

George Mason University forensic scientists are studying whether honey collected from bees foraging near decomposing bodies will contain evidence of those remains. Proteins in honey are already being used by researchers to measure the presence of heavy metals, air pollutants, and pesticides, so, these forensic scientists thought, if that's the case, could biochemical information relating to decomposing remains also be present? In addition, researchers hypothesize that through honey, they’ll also be able to detect evidence of volatile organic compounds from decomposing bodies. As bodies decompose, organic compounds are released into the soil and air, resulting in traces of these compounds being absorbed by flowers growing nearby. As honeybees pollinate the flowers, these biochemicals are believed to be brought back to hives and be found present in the resulting honey. When it comes to criminal investigations, investigators can contact local beekeepers and test their hives for any signs of decomp which can be useful in narrowing down possible search areas. If beehives test positive for compounds associated with decomp, investigators can then estimate that the body is likely within 2 to 5 miles of where the beehives are located, as foraging is often limited to food sources within 3 km of the hive. Research is still being conducted, so I don’t have a firm answer for you yet, but bees may be little scientists on our behalf in the future and provide valuable insight into solving murders. Thankfully, the sampling is non-invasive as only a small spoonful of honey would be required! To learn more about body farms, check out our episode 34 - The Redhead Murders & Forensic Taphonomy!

Hauser, C. (2024, June 21). ‘Tiny Crime Fighters With Wings’: Bees Go to Work on a Virginia ‘Body Farm’. The New York Times. (Internet). Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/science/body-donation-farm-virginia-death-scent.html 

Osborne, M. (2022, April 4). Forensic Scientists Are Testing Whether Honey Bees Can Help Locate Human Bodies. Smithsonian Magazine. (Internet). Retrieved from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-are-testing-whether-honey-bees-can-help-locate-human-bodies-180979845/ 

Zibton, J. (2023, July 20). Bees can help investigators find a body, research at Virginia’s newest body farm. WSLS 10 News. (Internet). Retrieved from: https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/07/20/bees-can-help-investigators-find-a-body-research-at-virginias-newest-body-farm/

In 1927, Donald Trump's father Fred was arrested at a KKK rally in Queens, NY. His charge was for "refusing to disperse from a parade when ordered to do so" and he was 21 years old at the time. This rally turned violent and it is not clear what role Fred Trump played in this rally/brawl just that he was among the seven men who were arrested. The rally occurred on Memorial Day 1927 and sympathizers of the Italian fascist movement and KKK individuals were in attendance. Two Italian men were killed by the anti-fascists in the Bronx and in Queens, 1,000 robed Klansmen marched through a Jamaican neighborhood which spurred the brawl where the seven men were arrested. 

When news of this arrested resurfaced in 2015/16, Donald Trump denied his fathers arrested and is quoted saying "He was never arrested. He has nothing to do with this. This never happened. This is nonsense and it never happened. This never happened. Never took place. He was never arrested, never convicted, never even charged. It's completely false, ridiculous story. He was never there! It never happened. Never took place." Which begs the question, do you think that this happened?

Source:

Donald Trump’s father was arrested, too. Twice. - The Washington Post 

Researchers have made a digital map of a tiny piece of the human brain. They took a piece of the left anterior temporal lobe from a person with epilepsy, sliced it into 5000 pieces, each about 30 nanometers thick, and then AI algorithms reconstructed the cells and connections in 3D to create this image. The map represents a cubic millimeter of brain and it has 57,000 cells, 230 millimeters of blood vessels and 150 million synapses.  Some neurons have connections of more than 50 synapses, which is so cool!! Researchers theorize that these connections might show “what learning looks like in the brain”. It could also explain how we’re able to do things with little to no thought. They also found axons that had wrapped themselves into knots. They’re not sure why this is or if it has anything to do with the tissue coming from someone with epilepsy. This experiment will likely lead the way for some truly groundbreaking findings about the human brain and we are so excited to see what else researchers can learn!! We would highly recommend checking out their dataset & article. While the dataset is confusing, they have posted tools to help you analyze and proofread it. 

Article Citation:  Alexander Shapson-Coe et al., A petavoxel fragment of human cerebral cortex reconstructed at nanoscale resolution. Science384,eadk4858(2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adk4858

Scientists Images and Mapped a Tiny Piece of Human Brain. Here's What They Found | Smithsonian (smithsonianmag.com)

H01 Release | A Browsable Petascale Reconstruction of the Human Cortex (storage.googleapis.com)

The Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center located in Providence, Rhode Island is continuing/palliative care centre for patients with various end-stage diseases and disorders. The center considers itself pet friendly, and in 2005, they adopted six cats to live in the center with the residents, bringing joy to those who interacted with them!

One of the cats they adopted was Oscar, a sweet tuxedo cat who was known to be quite aloof and seemed quite content to be left alone, often finding places to hide in the closets or under patient beds. After around 6 months or so of Oscar getting acquainted to the Center, staff noticed that he was becoming a little more cuddly with some of the patients!! Oscar was very particular about who he chose to lay with, but he would jump up onto their bed and cuddle up beside them. But staff began to notice a strange, familiar pattern about the patients Oscar was choosing - they were all dying within a few hours of being blessed by Oscars snuggles. 

It was reported that essentially every patient he laid with died within just a couple hours. Staff even attempted at times to coax Oscar to lay with patients that they believed would pass soon as their condition was so poor, but Oscar would refuse and instead lay with another, seemingly healthier patient, who would in fact die before the one staff thought would be next. Staff obviously caught on to Oscar doing this relatively quickly, but were amazed by how strangely accurate he was. After Oscar had successfully predicted 25 deaths, staff actually began calling patients families when Oscar showed up at their bedside, as it was at that point staff were pretty certain that the patient was in their last hours, and Oscar provided a way for families know it is time to say goodbye. 

Oscar has since, unfortunately, passed away at the age of 17, but in his life, he was known to have correctly predicted over 100 deaths.

There is a murder zone in Yellowstone National Park. There is a 50 square mile section in Yellowstone National Park where one can get away with murder and other crimes. In 2005, Brian Kalt, a Michigan State university law professor discovered this loophole while researching jurisdictions for his article. Yellowstone National Park is federal land so if someone commits a crime there it falls under federal jurisdiction. Under the 6th amendment a person accused of a crime has the right to a jury trial where the jurors are residents from the state and federal district where the crime occurred. There is a stretch in the Yellowstone National Park that crosses parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. Therefore if someone was to commit murder on this piece of land the crime would take place in Idaho but under Wyoming’s discretion and because it is unpopulated there are no jury members living in the area so no jury trial can take place. Once Kalt learned this he sent copies of his research to lawmakers with suggestions on how to fix the issue but nothing has changed so this area is still dubbed a “murder zone”. It is also called “The Zone of Death”

The ‘Perfect Crime’ in Yellowstone’s ‘Zone of Death’ - The Atlantic 

Yellowstone has a 50 square mile "Zone of Death" where you can get away with murder - Vox 

Zone of Death (Yellowstone) - Wikipedia 

Snails’ Teeth Beats Spider Silk As Nature’s Strongest Material | Smithsonian (smithsonianmag.com) 

Gammon, K. (2024, March 15). How Does Blood Spatter in Space? Nautilus. (Web). Retrieved from: https://nautil.us/how-does-blood-splatter-in-space-533383/ 

Kowalske, Z., Pantalos, G., Oleiwi, A., & Williams, G. (2024, February 9). Bloodstain pattern dynamics in microgravity: Observations of a plot study in the next frontier of forensic science. Forensic Science International: Reports. Volume 9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsir.2024.100358 

Approximately 580 pet cemetery plots are carefully, and respectfully, being excavated by University of Toronto forensic science students. The Oakville & Miltion Humane Society was the final resting place for many beloved pets, however, the society has outgrown their current locaiton and are in need of a new space. Those working on the project had promised to leave no animal behind during this moving process.

They've found some plots with more than one animal laid to rest together, some were found buried with their favourite toy, water bowl, harness, and even packs of treats. The last burial took place in the early 1990s, and the humane society has been trying to track down the owners. The plan is to move the remains and name plates to the new location, however, if able to be contacted, families are given alternative options that include cremation, or being buried elsewhere. The project has been a unique learning opportunity for forensic science students.  

If you would like to learn more you can check out this news article: U of T Mississauga forensic students help prepare pet cemetery for relocation | University of Toronto (utoronto.ca) 

On December 28, 2023, Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released from prison after serving 7 of her sentenced 10 years. Gypsy Rose grew up believing that she had many different sicknesses because her mom, Dee Dee, had Munchausen by proxy. 

Munchausen by proxy is a mental health condition where a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under their care. 

Gypsy Rose was born in 1991 and Dee Dee claimed that she suffered from sleep apnea. When Gypsy was 8, Dee Dee was convinced that Gypsy had leukemia & muscular dystrophy so she needed a wheel chair and feeding tube. Other ailments Dee Dee was convinced she had include: seizures, asthma, hearing & visual impairments. Gypsy was prescribed a number of medications and had to sleep with a breathing machine. However, Gypsy could walk, she didn't need a feeding tube, and she did NOT have cancer. 

In 2011, she tried to run away from her mom, but Dee Dee eventually tracked her down. Gypsy ws 19 at this time. Gypsy later met a man on a Christian dating site who she asked to kill  her mom, which he did in June 2015. In 2016, she pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2018. 

If you want to learn more about Gypsy Rose's story you can listen to Episode 66 which is out now!

January 15, 1919 started as a normal day like any other in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, but would end in a sticky disaster that killed 21 people and injured at least another 150. The Purity Distilling Company, located in Boston, had massive storage tanks of molasses which they used to create ethanol. For reasons which are still debated, shortly after the company had poured their newest shipment of warm molasses into the tank, the 50-foot tall tank ruptured, sending 2.3 million U.S. gallons (8,700 cubic meters) of molasses rushing into the streets of Boston. 

When the rupture occurred, people reported feeling the ground trembling and hearing rumbling similar to the sound of the train passing through Boston. Shortly after, two to three foot high walls of molasses were flowing through the streets, travelling at speeds up to 56 km/h (35 mph), and destroying everything in its path. Although the flood was largely contained to a small area in the North End, molasses could be found all over the city for months after due to cars and people tracking it through Boston. The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 became local legend, and many people said that on a hot summer day, you could still smell the molasses in the air for years after. 

Still curious and want to learn more? Check out: 

What people saw and felt in the first moments of Boston’s deadly Great Molasses Flood

The Great Molasses Flood

In 1981, a team of archaeologists from Leicester University were digging on the grounds of St Bees Priory searching for evidence of a pre-Norman church. They found several simple, monastic and secular burials, in addition to a large stone vault. Inside this vault, the skeletal remains of a woman were found next to a lead lined coffin.

The coffin was carefully examined and opened, revealing a body wrapped in a shroud and tied with cord. Once unwrapped (at the local morgue), the body was examined by a team led by Dr. Eddiie Tapp, a paleopathologist who performed a forensic autopsy on the remains of the St. Bees Man. 

The way his body was wrapped in the shroud had preserved the organs remarkably, allowing the team to not only speculate on cause of death, but it also gave them insight into the general health of the man prior to the injurues he sustained that ultimately led to his death. 

The St. Bees Man's skin was described as 'pinkish' in some areas, and certain tissues when cut resembled that of a recently deceased individual. Amazingly, liquid blood was even found in the chest cavity! His stomach contents revealed a last meal containing oats and raisins. 

During the autopsy and examination, it was revealed that the St. Bees Man must have died a violent death. He had a fractured right jaw, fractured hyoid, and fractured 7th rib which is believed to have resulted in a punctured lung, and ultimately led to this man's death. The incredible preservation was explained to have been due to the lead sheath and a beeswax coating on the shroud. 

Since the discovery, it's strongly believed that the St. Bees Man was Anthony de Lucy, a knight who died during a crusade in 1368.

Still curious and want to learn more? Check out: 

St. Bees Man 

• Be sure to check out the other links included on this page! 

Youtube Documentary 

In May 2022, Mostafa Waziry found the first full papyrus that contains sections from the 'Book of the Dead. This papyrus is more than 2,000 years old and will help shed light on the Ancient Egyptian funeral traditions. 

The papyrus is 52 feet long and contains sections from the 'Book of the Dead'. It is the first full papyrus to be uncovered at Saqqara in over 100 years but the second papyrus to contain sections of the Book of the Dead found in 2022 at Saqqara. The first one was only 13 feet long and was found in fragments, while this is the entire papyrus. 

This newly discovered Book of the Dead comes from the tomb of Ahmose, who lived around 300 BCE. It was found in his sarcophagus and it’s purpose was to protect & assist him in his journey into his afterlife. The idea was that the deceased could read instructions from it and recite protective spells to aid their transition to the next life. 

No scroll has been found to contain the entire ‘Book of the Dead’ however it is thought that there are around 200 chapters in the Book of the Dead. 

If you want to learn more you can watch “The Unknown: The Lost Pyramid” on Netflix.

The remains of a 7th century 16 year old female were discovered in Trumpington, England, back in 2012. She was found buried on a carved wooden bed, wearing gold pins, fine clothing, and she wore a beautiful, ornate, gold cross around her neck. While this burial style, in a carved wooden bed is not uncommon across Europe, it is rare to see in England, with only 18 ever found in the UK, all of which had female remains. 

Isotopic analysis revealed the 16 year old moved from the Alps (possibly Southern Germany) when she was around 7 years old. She is believed to be a part of an elite group, possibly an early convert to Christianity, maybe even an arisocrat or held royal status. 

Two theories are that she may have been a political bride or political envoy sent to network and create links between kingdoms or that she was a nun, or someone important high in the Christian hierarchy, who may have been sent over when there was the shift of Paganism to early Christianity. 

Forensic Artist Hew Morrison completed a facial reconstruction of this teen as part of the Beneath our Feet: Archaeology of the Cambridge Region exhibition at the University of Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. This reconstruction was a way to humanize the remains and be able to visualize who archaeologists and scientists have been studying for almost a decade.

One interesting thing Hew Morrison discovered during the reconstruction was that the girl's left eye sat about 5mm lower than her right, something that would have been noticable while alive! 

You can read more about this reconstruction at these links:

• Smithsonian

• CBC

• LiveScience

Goodyear, Sheena. (2023, June 20). This is what scientists think a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon teen looked like. CBC News. [Internet]. 

Nalewicki, Jennifer. (2023, June 26). Face of 'elite' 7th-century girl buried in a bed with gold and jewels revealed after 1,300 years. LiveScience. [Internet].

Parker, Christopher. (2023, June 29). Forensic Artist Reconstructs the Face of a Teenager Who Lived 1,300 Years Ago. Smithsonian Magazine. [Internet]. 

In early 2020 or late 2019, a dismembered body that had been found in 1979 was identified as a murderer who disappeared a century earlier. The murderer was Joseph Henry Loveless. He escaped custody after killing his wife with an axe in 1916. Pieces of his dismembered body have been found since 1979 in a cave system in Idaho.

In 2019, these remains were given to the DNA Doe Project and they were able to match his DNA to an 87-year-old man living in California who was identified as his grandson. This man had no idea of his grandfather's criminal past.

Loveless' head is still missing, they have never found the saw he used to break out of jail and they do not know who killed him.

It is suspected that when his wife's family came into town for her funeral and saw how mutilated she was, they decided to treat him in a very similar fashion.

You can read more about this headless killer here

Wu, Katherine. “DNA Evidence Identifies Headless Corpse in Cave as 1916 Axe Murderer.” Smithsonian.com, January 7, 2020. 

In honour of forensic friday we decided to highlight Svante Pääbo who won the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine!! He fully sequenced the Neanderthal genome in 2010 and was one of the first people to identify Denisovan’s. His contribution to science is incredible and we are so thankful for his tireless effort of looking into our past and what makes us “human”. Thank you Svante Pääbo and congratulations on your award!! 

The Olduvai Gorge is and archaeological site in Northern Tanzania on the eastern Serengeti Plain. This ravine has depostis that date back to a time span of 2,100,000 to 15,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found the remains of more than 50 hominins (our ancestors) and the most complete set of stone tools within the deposits on the side of the ravine. These discoveries are influential as they strengthen the argument that humans originated from Africa. It also provides the most continuous record of human evolution. 

Famous Finds in Olduvai Gorge:

• "Nutcracker man" Paranthropus boisei: P. Boisei was found in 1959 at the Olduvai Gorge by Mary Leakey. He was called the "nutcracker man" because he had huge molars which indicated that he had a primarily vegetarian diet. The specific skull was dated back to ~1.75 million years ago but the species was around between 2.3 to 1.2 million years ago. 

  • FUN FACT: It is thought that P. boisei was the intermediate host of the herpes virus (HSV2). We know that the virus diverged 1.4-1.3 mya and it is suggested that P. boisei contracted herpes from either scavenging chimpanzee remains and/or having sexual contact with Homo habilis.) (Remains of H. habilis were also found in the Olduvai Gorge.) 

• "Lucy" Australopithecus afarensis: Lucy is the most complete ancient hominin fossil at about 40% complete. She was discovered in 1974 (at a different site) and her species lived between 3.9-2.9 mya and many fossil remains were found at the Olduvai Gorge. A. afarensis is one of the longest living and best known early human species. Tracks were found in this area as well that indicated that A. afarensis travelled bipedally. At another location the "first family" was found. Archaeologists found 17 A. afarensis individuals buried together and they suggest that these individuals were a family. 

• Oldowan Tools: These are tools that date back to 2 million years ago. They are made out of pebbles of quartz, quartzite, or basalt. To make them the early humans would chip the pebbles in two directions to create a simple tool that could be used for chopping, scraping, or cutting. Some of the tools can be made out of bone as well. This indicates that the early humans had greater concept for thought that was previously theorized. 

Not found at Olduvai Gorge:

• “Neanderthals” Homo neanderthalensis: Contrary to this cartoon, Neanderthals we’re not active in and around the area of the Olduvai Gorge. They were active less than 1 million years ago so they are much younger than any of the remains found in the gorge. 

The Cioclovina calvaria, found in the Pestera Cioclovina cave of South Transylvania in 1941, is one of the few relatively well-preserved representatives of Europe’s earliest modern humans. The skull, dating back to about 33 thousand years from present, has two large fractures on the right side. For decades, researchers have debated the cause of these fractures, as the initial report by those who found it failed to document the cause of them, or even that they were present. Researchers have previously hypothesized that they were caused by explosions in the cave (which was a phosphate mine at the time), that the skull was mishandled by early researchers, that the cave collapsed, and even that the skull came from a victim of murder. Kranioti et al. (2019) wanted a more conclusive answer on the cause of the fractures, so they set out to find it themselves.

First, a computed tomography (CT) scan was performed on the skull to determine whether the fracture occurred ante- (before), peri- (during), or post- (after) mortem by looking for hints such as signs of healing and the shape of the fragments. Comparing the CT scan to the standard forensic criteria for timing of injuries, the researchers determined that the skull had been fractured during death (peri-mortem) — meaning the cause of the fracture was likely the reason for the person’s death. In addition, they found that the shape of the fracture was consistent with blunt force trauma, likely caused by a rounded object (such as a club or smoothed rock), and that the victim was likely facing their attacker at the time of the trauma. Unfortunately, as the only part of the skeleton recovered was the skull, we cannot know whether there are other injuries on the skeleton that are consistent with an attack with a blunt-object. However, the researchers concluded that based on their forensic investigation of the skull, the fractures were likely caused by a violent attack with a blunt object, and was likely the cause of this individual’s death. 

If the cause of death was indeed homicide, it raises the interesting question of whether this was an inter- or intra-species conflict. Was it between two Homo sapiens? Or perhaps between a Homo sapien and an early species of human, such as Neanderthals? Hopefully advancements in technology and further evidence can help us solve this mystery! 

If you’re interested in learning more about how modern forensic scientists solved a 33 thousand year old mystery, you can read the whole study here! 

Kranioti, E. F., Grigorescu, D., & Harvati, K. (2019, July 3). State of the art forensic techniques reveal evidence of interpersonal violence ca. 30,000 years ago. Plos one, 17(7).  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216718

A new study by researchers at Rutger’s University and University of South Florida has found a positive correlation between the eviction rates in Philadelphia to the crime rates for 2006 to 2016. Currently, Philadelphia has the fourth highest eviction rate in the US, with about 1 in 17 renting households facing eviction. 

The authors hypothesized that residential instability related to involuntary moves, like eviction, impact a communities overall crime rate more-so than housing instability characterized by voluntary moves. Eviction has also been associated with poverty, especially in already disadvantaged neighbourhoods. They further suggest that part of the reason for eviction-caused displacement increasing crime rates in neighbourhoods is due to the impact it has on a neighbourhood’s ability to develop a crime-prevention program. 

To measure the relationship between eviction and crime, Semenza et al. (2021) compiled data from various sources, including each census tract in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, and the American Community Survey (ACS). The three crime statistics measured were the rates of homicide, robbery, and burglary.

The authors found that their hypothesis was supported, that neighbourhood eviction rates were directly associated with homicide, robbery, and burglary rates. Their study further supports the previous psychological and criminological literature that finds a direct correlation between poverty and crime rates. 

Semenza, D. C., Stansfield R., Grosholz, J. M., & Link, N. W. (2021, August 3). Eviction and Crime: A Neighborhood Analysis in Philadelphia. Crime & Delinquency. 1 - 26. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00111287211035989

Nicknamed “Le Grêlé” (meaning the pockmarked man), this killer was linked to four murders and six sexual assault cases against women spanning 1986 to 1994, although there is suspected to be more. 

In a recent attempt to solve this cold case, in 2021 an investigating magistrate sent letters requesting DNA samples to 750 military police who were stationed in the Paris region at the time of these attacks. One of the men who received a letter was François Vérove. 

Vérove was summoned by police on the 24th of September to provide a DNA sample, but he went unheard from. Just a few days later, on September 27, his wife reported him missing. Two days later on September 29, his body was found in a rented flat in a city if Southern France, along with a suicide note. In the note, Vérove suggested that he was the killer, and that he had “previous impulses” in the past, but “got himself together” when he married his wife and had children. His DNA was taken and found to match the unknown suspect DNA of the victims of Le Grêlé. 

Vérove was a police officer and a gendarme, but recently retired within the past few years. Investigators when the crimes initially occurred suspected that the perpetrator was somehow involved with the police force or military due to the types of violence and tactics he used against his victims. It is even reported that he attempted to build trust with some of his victims by introducing himself as a policeman.

Thanks to the due diligence of the cold case investigators on this case over two decades after the initial crimes, the identity of the perpetrator has been identified, and hopefully can bring some justice, or at least relief, to the victims and their families.

French ex-officer's DNA ends 35-year murder hunt. (2021, October 1). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58749596?fbclid=IwAR0cl6-ISDTFgw-vup-MPyu4K5NdJ7EPH1x4Nl8Oqtm_BwixooUs9BNBnPM

Researchers at Bournemouth University in the UK have begun investigating the potential for AI in identifying footprints found at crime scenes.

Footprints are a useful piece of evidence found at a crime scene as they can assist the investigators in identifying a suspect. Footprints can tell us about the approximate height, weight, and gait of a suspect, and debatably their sex as well.

In a recent study by the same authors, they found that footprint experts were able to identify the gender of a variety of footprints just over 50% of the time. Conversely, the neural network, a form of AI, they created to identify the gender of footprints was able to correctly identify their gender over 90% of the time.

As one of the most common types of footprint evidence is shoe treads, they created another neural network that could sift through the shoe print database used by police to see how accurately it could identify the make and model of the latent shoe prints. To test their neural network, the authors had casual users of the shoe print database (investigators with the police force), footwear experts, and their neural network analyse randomly selected shoe prints and identify their make and model. They found that the casual users correctly identified it between 22% to 83% of the time, versus the neural network which was correct between 60% and 91% of the time. Despite the successes of the neural network, it still was not as accurate as the footwear experts, who correctly identified nearly 100% of the footwear patterns.

Their studies demonstrated that although the neural networks may need a little more work, they may be a useful tool during investigations to minimize human error, as well as speed up the process of getting an analysis on the prints.

To learn more about this interesting research, check out the article which summarizes the research, as well as provides links to the academic articles related to it! 

Researchers have developed a polymer that binds to blood in a fingerprint to create high contrast images! And even better it doesn’t damage any DNA on the surface. Previously, dyes had been used but they were difficult to develop and didn’t work on all surfaces. This new polymer is absorbed into a cotton pad which is then placed on the prints (on any surface!!) and then peeled off after a few minutes to air dry. Each of the surfaces tested showed high contrast between the blood and the background under ultraviolet light. There was enough detail to distinguish whorls, short ridges, and sweat pores. Researchers then purposely contaminated the prints with mould and dust and they were still distinguishable. In one experiment, even a piece of DNA remained intact after being mixed with the polymer, which is huge for forensics as well. 

Fan, Z., Zhang, C., Chen, J., Ma, R., Lu, Y., Wu, J. W., & Fan, L. J. (2021). Highly Stable, Nondestructive, and Simple Visualization of Latent Blood Fingerprints Based on Covalent Bonding Between the Fluorescent Conjugated Polymer and Proteins in Blood. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 13(13), 15621-15632.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c00710

Did you know, scientists were able to distinguish between contact and ingestion of cocaine from a fingerprint. Both street cocaine and it’s powder in its primary metabolite (BZE) were used in the study.

Surprisingly, street cocaine was still present in fingerprints after washing hands, but BZE was no longer present. 

They found that the detection of cocaine in fingerprints could show either ingestion of cocaine OR recent contact, but not both at the same time, and, anything over 48 hours after contact could no longer be detected through the fingerprints.

Considering the possible ethical guidelines that would need to followed with the use of cocaine in research, the dose was limited to 2 mg for health and safety reasons!

This discovery can possibly be used as a screening tool in the future!

Lang, M., Costa, C., Bunch, J., Gibson, B., Ismail, M., Palitsin, V., ... & Bailey M. J. (2020, February). On the relevance of cocaine detection in a fingerprint. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58856-0

Earlier this week at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, employees made a shocking discovery: a fingerprint on a wax statue! They presume that this fingerprint belongs to Michelangelo as it was one of his statues. The fingerprint was found when the museum was closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the statue was being moved to a colder place in the museum. After five months in storage the staff were examining the statue to see how it had survived the heat and they found the tiny fingerprint on the statue’s butt. It has been suggested that the change in humidity and temperature has changed the wax’s composition making the fingerprint visible.

Davis-Marks, I. (2021, July 15). Fingerprint Found on Renaissance Wax Sculpture May Belong to Michaelangelo. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/fingerprint-renaissance-wax-sculpture-michelangelo-victoria-albert-museum-180978168/?fbclid=IwAR0XNz7pu1Jjz24cniR6k8m0Ur7Bntj5GmAVZxHw9euEL8wQucB3FhkgMh0

A team from Singapore has recently developed a device that can assess skin conditions and provide a 3D image in 10 minutes. Unlike other technologies, this portable device only weighs 100 grams and is battery operated, making it easy to transport to scenes if necessary. A 5x5cm gold coated film is pressed to a subject’s skin where the oils of the skin is transferred onto the film, creating an imprint. A bit of fancy science happens, creating a high-resolution 3D map of the skin. 

Researches have used pig skin to map patterns of punctures, lacerations, abrasions, and incisions, using this device to obtain imaging of these wounds. It’s also said that it can be used to lift latent fingerprints and give a 3D image of the characteristics! 

Fu, X., Cheong, Y. H., Ahamed, A., Zhou, C., Robert, C., Krikstolaityte, V., ... & Lisak, G. (2021). Diagnostics of skin features through 3D skin mapping based on electro-controlled deposition of conducting polymers onto metal-sebum modified surfaces and their possible applications in skin treatment. Analytica Chimica Acta, 1142, 84-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2020.10.056

"Septic Sam" was identified via genetic genealogy near Tofield, Alberta (we talk about forensic genealogy in our second episode if you want a refresher on what it is). Since his murder in 1977, the man has been unidentified. He would have been around 25 years old at the time of his death. There has been quite a bit of research and investigating on his behalf in the past 40 years but until recently most attempts were unsuccessful in identifying him. 

In October 2017, a National DNA program was launched to identify the unidentified by obtaining DNA samples from family members who have missing relatives. In 2019, a partial DNA profile from the unidentified remains was compared to the DNA database unsuccessfully. Luckily, the emerging field of Genetic Genealogy was able to provide some answers. In 2020, biological samples from the remains were sent to a Lab in Texas and a DNA profile was successfully developed and searched against the public DNA databases. 

A "family tree" was able to be created and the Alberta RCMP were able to contact and obtain DNA samples from family members to compare to the recently obtained DNA profile of the unidentified individual. In October 2020, a familial match was confirmed to the individual who has been unidentified since 1977. Alberta RCMP confirmed that the unidentified homicide victim was Gordon Edwin Sanderson from Edmonton. 

If you are interested in this case check out the article for more information.

This #forensicfriday is about Texas and their use of forensic hypnosis, relevant to this weeks episode! Texas Rangers are said to be among the most prolific hypnotists in the state and it was only this January, 2021, that Texas has decided to end its use of hypnosis during investigations. They have “developed more advanced interview and interrogation techniques that yield better results”, putting hypnosis in the past. October 2020 was the most recent cases they’ve used hypnosis for! 

Check out the article here.

At the end of May 2021, the bodies of 215 children were found at a residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. The remains were found via Ground-Penetrating radar (GPR) during a survey of the grounds at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. As far as anyone knows, these children’s deaths were undocumented and some were as young as three years old. There has been a call by many to excavate and perform GPR at the other residential schools in Canada to see if there are more missing children we can return to their families. Residential schools are very much a stain in Canada’s past and we need to do our part to return the lost children to their families, to apologize for actions in the past, and to do better in the future.

A National Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. Access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866 925-4419. 

Joe Ligon spent 68 years in Pennsylvania prisons after being convicted of robbery and assault in 1953 when he was 15 years old, becoming the United States longest serving juvenile offender.

In February of 1953, Ligon and four other teenagers drank two bottles of wine together, this being the first time he had drank, and got unruly through the streets of South Philadelphia. They ended up stabbing eight men, killing two of them. Ligon’s lawyers instructed him to plead guilty to the facts, leaving the judge to determine the crimes. He admitted to stabbing one victim who survived but has always contested that he never killed anyone. He and his friends trial only lasted one day, and the courts deemed them “mentally defective with criminal deficiencies”. Ligon was sentenced to life in prison without parole, initially incarcerated at the Pennsylvania institution for Defective Delinquents.

The decision to sentence juveniles for life without possibility of parole was highly questioned based on growing research on adolescent brain development, and in a series of US Supreme court decisions between 2005 and 2016, was ultimately ruled a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The Supreme Court decision in 2016 ruled that all juvenile lifers must get new sentences. Ligon became eligible for parole at this time but did not apply because he wanted to be completely free, not on parole. In November of 2020, his public defender re-litigated his case, and a judge ruled that he could be released from the system. He was officially released in February 202 and is adjusting to normal life after spending 68 years incarcerated.

You can read the article here.

This #forensicfriday, we want to share @cnn’s story about the errors of facial recognition, especially with POC. His grandmother called him to let him know police were looking for him. While he’s had his run ins with the law in the past, that life was behind him and this news came as a shock to Nijeer Parks in 2019. When he went to the station to clear things up, he was told his arrest warrant was signed off because of a facial recognition scan that apparently put him at the crime scene. 

You can check out the article here: Nijeer Parks was arrested due to a false facial recognition match | CNN Business 

Alberta RCMP use facial reconstruction to spark tips in missing persons cases. They are hoping to identify 3 individuals whose remains were found over the past four decades.

1. A woman who is believed to be 23-40 years old when she died. Her remains were found in Carbon, AB in April 1995. It is suspected that she died between 1980-1985. She was ~5’ to 5’3" tall and had a disease called brucellosis (not commonly found in Canada). She appears to be of mixed ancestry.

2. A male between 25-40 years old who was found in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in Kananaskis. He was found Sept. 2013 and it is estimated that he died between Sept. 2008 and Aug. 2013. He appears to be of Asian ancestry, was 5’3" to 5’7" tall, showed signs of malnutrition and anemia but he had strong muscle development.

3. A female between 16-30 years old. She was found near Hinton, AB in 1985. It is thought that she died in 1975 or earlier. It’s believed that she is indigenous but no other information is known.

If you’re looking for more information about missing persons or have information about these cases visit www.canadasmissing.ca

Source: Alberta RCMP use facial reconstructions to generate new leads in missing persons cases | CTV News