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A private investigator friend of mine and I were discussing wrongful imprisonment cases earlier and there’s quite a bit of perpetrator DNA still available in the case that sent his client away for years. He says his client is innocent. I say we should prove it. So we’re in talks. Welcome to the nerd life of Charles.
I think we’re moving from a world in which the wrongly accused say, “I’m not the suspect,” to one in which investigators can claim credibly, “I’m not the suspect—and here’s the real perpetrator.”
Such a shift will require advocates for the wrongly accused embracing the latest in genetic technology. Will they? Or will their antipathy to the alleged incompetence of much law enforcement prove a stumbling block?
Stay tuned there.
You can learn a lot by reading the headlines:
“New Biden order would stem flow of Americans’ sensitive data to China,” Washington Post.
“The order is designed to block data brokers and other companies from selling access to large stores of geolocation, genomic and other sensitive, personal information to buyers in “countries of concern” such as China, Russia and Iran, administration officials have told industry and civil society experts.”
“Decades-old missing person case solved after relative uploads DNA to genealogy site,” NPR.
The case's breakthrough came last year in January, when a person uploaded their DNA to the genealogy database GEDMatch and the tool immediately determined that the DNA donor was a distant family member of Young. According to Oregon State Police, Young's DNA was already in databases used by law enforcement to help identify missing persons.
From there, a genetic genealogist working with local law enforcement helped track down other possible relatives and encouraged them to provide their DNA. That work eventually led to Young's sister and other family members, who confirmed that Young went missing around the same time that a body was discovered in the far north end of Sauvie Island.
Upload your DNA, friends. You never know who you might be helping.
“Satoshi Kirishima: DNA test confirms dying man was one of Japan's most wanted”
A world in which everyone is sequenced and processed through facial recognition is one in which this sort of thing never happens.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas throws his hat into the ring to replace Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as Majority Leader.
Cornyn was a co-sponsor of the Carla Walker Act which would create federal funding for agencies to use forensic genetic genealogy. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania recently introduced its analogue in the House — the “Cold Case Modernization Act.”
Were Senator Cornyn to be Senate Majority Leader these bills would have a good chance of becoming law. “It’s a bad time to be a bad guy,” says Walker’s brother, Jim. Here’s to that!
You should pay closer attention to the proliferation of eDNA studies, especially when it comes to trait prediction. Here it’s being used to study biodiversity. “Why citizen scientists are gathering DNA from hundreds of lakes — on the same day,” Nature, February 21, 2024.
My friend Eske Willerslev of the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen has his star turn on NOVA in a recent special titled, “Hunt for the Oldest DNA.” It’s well worth it if you can spare the hour to see how eDNA collection evolved as a science.
There’s a lot of talk lately about living for forever and the focus is all on the Blue Zones. I recently proposed a more obvious idea: Might we consider sequencing the oldest among us? More on that soon.
A little bit more spy stuff before we go…
A dear friend of mine sent me some material from the ADL purporting to refute that DNA tests about Jews and Israelis were accurate.
Those who would commit genocide or other atrocities must first attack science and sense making.
We’ve discussed before how the ADL is a front for the IDF and how the IDF has been targeting me in the past. And true to form the ADL has also been returning to its mob roots by honoring Jared Kushner for making it easier to move dirty cash between Arab and Jewish gangs for the Abraham Accords.
You’ll recall that I sued all the way to the Supreme Court after I was targeted for working on a genetics lab. (In this case, the company was Othram.)
I quickly fired off my last tweet: “You came at me for the future we are bringing to Jew and gentile alike. But you cannot stop what is coming. 🇺🇸 🧬”
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