• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Hair Color Forensics

Hair Color Forensics

January 19, 2011
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/110119_sciup_hair.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Hair color from blood samples…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

If you watch crime shows, you know that you can get a suspect’s DNA from a strand of hair. Now, scientists in the Netherlands have shown that you can also predict a suspect’s hair color from their DNA. Forensic scientist Manfred Kayser of Erasmus University Medical Center says that until now, only redheads could be reliably identified by genetic markers.

MANFRED KAYSER (Erasmus University Medical Center, Netherlands):
But unfortunately the red hair color is very rare, so the practical applications of that red hair color DNA test was always very limited.

HIRSHON:
For the first time, the team found a way to tell blond from brown hair using DNA, and even distinguish between different shades of those colors. So even when there’s no hair at the crime scene, investigators may soon predict the hair color of an unknown suspect from sources like blood or saliva. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Genetics & Evolution
Previous Post:Asian Carp Invasion
Next Post:Solar Wasps

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos