Forensic Scientist

Forensic Scientist

LIsa Black

Cape Coral, FL

Female, 49

I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.

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Last Answer on July 21, 2022

Best Rated

Will a dry blood stain on rocks, say the interior of a cave, appear red after at least a year or would the stain be darker or change because of the conditions within the cave?

Asked by MK over 10 years ago

It will turn a dark red brown once it's completely dry, and will stay that color so far as I know if conditions stay consistent. If it changes further it would probably just fade a bit.

Hello, my name is Maria and I'm currently a High School senior. For my college and career project I need to interview someone in my field of interest which is forensics. Is it possible I could interview you through FaceTime or something? Thank you:)

Asked by mariataipe1523 over 9 years ago

Sure, send me your email address. If you don't want to post it here you can email me through my website: www.lisa-black@live.com.

What type of decisions do you make

Asked by Angel over 9 years ago

How to best process or obtain a piece of evidence.

can you tell the age of pharmaceuticals - specifically Ritalin/methylphenidate - like how many years ago it was made?

Asked by rogernono over 9 years ago

I'm sorry, I wouldn't have any idea. Do you mean dating the actual pills, or once they're in a person's system? If the former I think you'd have to ask a chemist, if the latter, a toxicologist. Sorry I can't help.

Is it true that a females DNA can't be used to trace paternal male lines? How would I trace my fathers ethnicity with him gone and no brothers?

Asked by L.Randolph almost 10 years ago

I'm not a DNA expert, but I know that half the 23 chromosomes in a person''s nuclear DNA come from one parent and half from the other parent, so part of the father's DNA would have to be present in the child.

Mitochondrial DNA (which is a different substance entirely, a circular structure present in the cell's mitochondria, whereas nuclear DNA is a double helix present in the cell nucleus) is passed from mother to child without recombining, so only the mother's mitochondrial DNA is present in the child. We test for mitochondrial DNA when nuclear DNA isn't available, like when we only have cut hair or fingernails or old bone to work with.

how long does it take to become a forensic scientist?

Asked by ali about 10 years ago

If you look over previous answers, you'll see that it depends upon the requirements of where you want to work. My job requires only a high school diploma but gives extra points for college degrees, so we all have at least a BS. A larger lab might require a BS. If you're doing DNA work they might require a PhD. The only way to know for sure is to call a few places you might be interested in and ask what they require. Best of luck!

Hi Lisa thx for the answer. My question is it OK to declare vagal inhibition without sending hyoid bone to forensic lab. My fathers hyoid bone was not sent to forensic lab but was only manually examined. We suspect foul play here.

Asked by Raja over 9 years ago

A forensic lab wouldn't examine a hyoid bone. That would be done at the autopsy by the pathologist. To the best of my knowledge there isn't anything else to examine, just whether it's broken or not, and as I said it doesn't conclusively prove anything one way or the other.Best of luck.