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.
Most people are cross-trained in more than one area. In smaller agencies people might have to wear a lot of hats.
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Fingerprints develop randomly as a child is moving around in the womb before birth, so they are not dictated by genes. That said, there can sometimes be vague similarities among family members (like having radial loops, all arches, or whatever). There are three patterns, loops, whorls and arches, and you can easily have some of your fingers have loops and then a few have whorls, or they can be all one type, or any combination.
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I’m sorry but I have no idea. I’ve never worked in Toxicology.
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Go to college and major in forensic science or one of the natural sciences. Best of luck!
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Debate Coach
Are presidential debates actually "debates", by the traditional definition?
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What made you go the entrepreneur route after college instead of a typical job?
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Why is movie theater food so overpriced?
It depends on what you're talking about--was what contaminated with what? Lots of things can be contaminated with things without results being affected. Take blood, you can mix blood with paint or dirt or maybe oil or types of soap and that won't affect the DNA profile. If you mix it with bleach or other blood, it will. So if you had, say, heroin, and it gets mixed with fingerprint powder or cotton fibers, it's still going to test as heroin. If you mix it with cocaine, maybe it won't. (Controlled substances are not my field.) So 'contamination' is not a one-size fits-all word.
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I used to be the hair and fiber analyst. Unfortunately it's increasing rare to find fiber analysis done at labs. Perhaps I can help you.
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My guess would be 0.Mostly it’s just kids wanting me to answer their homework questions.
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