silent witness

Every contact leaves a trace.
Every clue is a silent witness.

had been reading two forensic books recently. jus completed them ytd nite. :) one of it is entitled: modern methods of forensic science n e other: silent witness.

after readin e books, i realised tt e human body is really a great creation. there are actually many parts of e body which cn be used by forensic pathologists and anthropologists. the bones n teeth of human body in particular are really useful for determining gender, age n even stature.

jus wanna shared some stuff i read (summary):

1) determining gender

skull, pelvic bones and even e chin can be used to determine e gender for an unidentified body. for example: males have narrower pelvic bones and square chins while females have flared pelvic bones to accomodate child bearing and pointed chins.

2) determining age

teeth and e rate of ossification of long bones such as arms n legs cn be used to determine e age of e vicitim. for instance, pple below 2o have 20 growing teeths and lack premolars as well as e 3rd molar tooth (wisdom tooth). by determining e rate of growth of e teeth, e age cn be made known. however, this does nt apply to those above 20 as they have ceased in teeth growth.

for adults above 20, usually aging and degeneration of bones is used, in particular e public symphysis is examined as this area undergoes metamorphic change from 18 years onwards. wat's more interesting is tt after 35 years old, we will have a small bony growth on our vertebral spine which cn oso be used to determine e age of e deceased. really learnt a whole lot abt e human body structure n how anthropology helped in providing identification. :)

3) determining stature (height)

yup. u may think tt by measuring e entire skeleton, we cn get e height rite? i oso tot so initially. but we cnt always expect a complete body in times of accidents. so wat's more powerful is e fact tt anthropologist cn determine e stature by jus measuring portions of arms n legs or even jus e vetebral spine. cool rite?

e 2nd book, silent witness is even more interesting. it featured different US real life cases n how forensic science is used to help solve e crimes. i even read a particular case when this man was waxed after his death n made into a dummy. he was used as a stage prop n passed down over many years until "it" became so worn out tt his arm fell off during 1 of e setting of a show and revealed his bones. onli then did pple realised tt he was a real person. pretty shocking ah? haha. i oso read abt cases when e murderers disfigured e victims or soaked them in barrels of acid in an attempt to hinder idenification. however, tt didnt happen at all. as e enamel ( a hard thin Ca containing layer ard e tooth) and bones helped e forensic scientists identify e victims. (:

i even read abt how pple in e past relate particular physical features to particular crimes which obviously caused alot of innocent pple to be jailed. haha. i guess humans jus go to all kind of extent tryin to solve cases. yup. certainly enjoyed readin these 2 books. like forensic science even more. ( except those gross photos i saw in e books. but i guess it's inevitable in this field. haha)