Day 4

This hands-on day began with a tour of the interactive exhibit, "Whodunit: The Science of Solving Crime" at the Museum of Health and Medical Science.

A body is found in the alley behind a local restaurant. By collecting evidence, conducting interviews, medical analysis, and deductive reasoning ("good old police work"), participants try to discover who the killer is. We matched DNA, fingerprints, bullet fragments, police sketches, and fibers, plus watched a mock-autopsy, to identify suspects.

After Whodunit, we got to try our hands at police work.

Museum workers had staged a mock murder. We watched a video on the situation and circumstances of the crime, plus got to see the police interviews with the relatives, friends, and suspects. After that, Natalie Smith showed us how to do our own fingerprint analysis, handwriting analysis, blood typing (using a pseudo-blood serum), and hair/fiber analysis to solve the crime.

Websites and resources for this tour and presentation:

The afternoon ended with several very fun and interesting (and educational!) DNA activities. Diane West led us through Where's The CAT, a DNA profiling simulation. She then explained how to extract actual DNA from cheek cells and have them show up in a test tube. After that,  we did Easter Egg Genetics, which uses plastic Easter eggs and M&Ms to confirm genetic variability already predicted by a Punnett Square. To end, we viewed several DNA models made out of pool toys and even macaroni, and then got to make - and keep - our own DNA models keychains out of beads and wire.

websites and resources for this presentation: