by a_bonobo on 3/18/25, 8:09 AM
This is a slightly older paper, note that air environmental DNA now has progressed a lot, especially for species mapping.
Here's a cool recent paper showing you can extract DNA of local species from spider webs, by sequencing DNA stuck to spider webs from next to a zoo
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422...
by treetalker on 3/16/25, 1:35 AM
From the abstract:
> Detectable levels of DNA were also observed in air and dust samples from ultra-clean forensic laboratories which can potentially contaminate casework samples.
Great news for criminal defense attorneys.
by dc396 on 3/16/25, 12:31 AM
by h1fra on 3/18/25, 9:13 AM
I have always wondered why DNA is an accepted evidence. It's so easy to contaminate a crime scene or bring someone else hair, skin cells, etc by mistake.
by water-data-dude on 3/18/25, 2:08 PM
Well, that’s going to make it harder to hide from the hunter-killer bots
by steve_adams_86 on 3/18/25, 6:37 AM
At work we do this with DNA floating around in the ocean (have to track down all those nasty invasive crabs) but I wouldn’t have guessed we could do this with the air around us as well. That’s so cool.
Maybe we should spin up an air-based version for the office to keep track of who’s in coming to work the most
by the__alchemist on 3/18/25, 2:23 PM
This article... keeps repeating phrases about criminals, authorities, safe-houses, solving crimes. Feels off. I was expecting this to focus on the lab techniques, feasibility, technical details. It jumps straight from forensic application details to results without the in-between. I think the in-between is the interesting part.
It's as if they took the token sentence that goes in an abstract about potential applications, and turned it into the meat of the article.
It sounds like they are using standard extraction kits, them analyzing with RT-PCR.
by jp57 on 3/18/25, 8:13 PM
Makes me wonder if dogs can smell your DNA.
by rgrieselhuber on 3/18/25, 11:58 AM
So, DNA shedding basically?
by michaelcampbell on 3/18/25, 6:26 PM
Anyone remember the movie Gattaca?
by Simon_O_Rourke on 3/18/25, 6:21 PM
If you know my mother in law, you don't need a DNA tester to know she's been in the restroom.
by 6d6b73 on 3/18/25, 2:23 PM
I wouldn't be surprised that some some agencies *cough*Mosad*cough* are gathering DNA of leaders of all countries, and analyzing them, and potentially building bioweapons to target them. It looks like all you need to do is to get the HEPA filter from the room where the target was .