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About This Quiz
Forensic science -- or "forensics" for short -- has fascinated fiction writers since, at least, the time of Arthur Conan Doyle, when the 19th-century doctor-turned-writer had his protagonist, Sherlock Holmes, use forensic methods to solve crimes. But how much of what you've seen on the screen is realistic?
Forensics has become even more popular in recent decades, giving us the novels of Patricia Cornwell and television shows like "CSI." However, real-life forensic scientists (FYI, they hate being called "techs"!) say that these TV shows greatly exaggerate the ease and speed with which they do their work (and, probably, the drama of their love lives!)
Although real-life forensic science isn't nearly as sexy as TV and the movies makes it appear, it's also a much broader field than you might realize. It involves a lot more than fingerprints and DNA analysis (to name that two best-known sub-disciplines). Branches of forensic science include handwriting and document analysis, examination of video recordings or digital/computer evidence, and toxicology (the study of drugs and poisons). There's an entire branch dedicated to blood spatter alone!
Whether you're a fan of "CSI"-style TV shows and movies, or you once considered pursuing a branch of criminalistics as a career, we've got a quiz to challenge you. Do you know what kind of technician would study "metadata"? Or in what kind of crime scene you'd find a "void area"? Duck under the yellow tape and put your knowledge to the test!
Blood typing was an early form of forensic science. How many human blood types are there?
Three
Four
Humans can have type A, B, AB or O blood. The blood types are further divided up by what sort of antigens the cells carry -- a subject too complex to go into here.
Eight
Too many to count
Which of these prefixes means "relating to blood"?
Allo-
Hema-
The prefix "hema-" comes from the Greek word "haima," meaning "blood." You'll see it in names of certain tests run on blood.
Naturo-
Soma-
Which of these is not an important figure in early forensic science?
Alphonse Bertillon
Francis Galton
Sir William Herschel
Arthur Conan Doyle
Bertillon, Herschel and Galton made contributions to anthropometry (body measuring) or fingerprinting in the 19th century. Arthur Conan Doyle was a writer who created Sherlock Holmes, the fictitious character who sometimes used early versions of forensics. However, that doesn't actually qualify as a contribution to the field!
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Modern DNA analysis, known as the PCR-STR process, has been around since the _______.
1940s
1970s
1980s
The PCR-STR process was developed by eccentric scientist Kary Mullis. He credited LSD with helping open his mind to new ways of thinking about science. (Disclaimer: He has since become an AIDS denialist, a climate-change denialist and has reported seeing an alien in the guise of a glowing green raccoon.)
2000s
What part of the body do investigators commonly swab to get a DNA sample?
The cheek
The cheek is easy to access, yet protected from most forms of transfer DNA. An exception might be in the subject has recently been kissing, in which case the other person's cells might have transferred to the subject's mouth (as seen, for example, in the movie "Gattaca."
The inner ear
The scalp
The wrist
After death, the human body takes on a stiffness called what?
Ataxia
Arthritia
Rigor mortis
"Rigor mortis" is Latin for "stiffness of death." Bodies do not remain rigid; the condition peaks about 12 hours after death and then the muscles slowly begin to relax again.
Stasis
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When a suspect is not available in person, what might be tested for DNA instead?
Their pen or pencil
A household surface
The milk carton in their fridge
Their toothbrush
Most people don't share toothbrushes, making them a good source of cellular material. The other objects named above are too readily touched or handled by other persons.
Which of these cells does not contain DNA?
Hair follicles
Skin
Sweat
Urine
This is a bit of a trick question. Urine is sterile, and does not in itself contain DNA. But urine can carry skin cells from the lining of the bladder, so it's possible to get DNA from urine in that way.
Which of these is a NOT a field within forensic science?
Tire-track analysis
Ballistics
Blood-spatter analysis
IQ testing
Almost anything can be "forensic," in the dictionary definition of "detailed and minute analysis." But criminal forensic science, as we define it today, doesn't include IQ testing -- that would be done by a psychologist.
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Which of the following do identical twins NOT share?
Autosomal DNA
Fingerprints
Fingerprints are unique, even to identical twins. But both kinds of DNA, autosomal and mitochondrial, are shared by twins. As, of course, is blood type.
Mitochondrial DNA
Blood type
A test result that is not certain enough to be useful to an investigation is called _______.
Unfortunate
Inconclusive
A forensic scientist should never be afraid to admit a result is inconclusive. Often, a person's freedom hangs in the balance; the evidence can't be forced to fit a desired outcome.
Invalid
Semi-valid
After death, blood pools at the lowest points of the body. What is this called?
Erthyemia
Hematic migration
Livor mortis
Livor mortis presents as a bluish color in the lowest points of the body (the back, if the corpse is on its back; the front, if it's on its stomach, and so on). If a body has these patches at higher points, it indicates the body has been moved post-mortem.
Gravity
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Fingerprints that are not visible to the naked eye are called _____ prints.
Hidden
Latent
Most fingerprints at a crime scene are latent. That why technicians dust for them -- the dust makes them visible, then transferable to a surface for later analysis.
Invisible
Wispy
Probably the best-known detector of bloodstains not visible to the eye is a substance called ________.
Warfarin
Luminol
Luminol is a substance that reacts with the iron in hemoglobin. It glows when exposed to that iron, hence its name.
Ninhydrin
Resolve
True or false: DNA testing can't determine whether someone is a parent or sibling of an individual involved in a crime.
True
False
DNA testing is capable of determining family relationships, in which DNA is not identical, but has more points of similarity than that of a stranger. If this were not true, DNA testing couldn't be used to determine the father of a baby.
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In addition to fingerprints, which of these can be used to identify a person?
Ear prints
Footprints
Palm prints
Any of these
It's a misconception that only fingerprints have identified suspects. Given adequate imprinting on surfaces, other parts of the body can be used as well.
What might a "void area" tell a specialist in blood spatter?
The victim's blood type
Whether the killer was injured
The positions of the victim and killer
A void area appears where an object at close range intercepts spurting blood, which can be seen on either side of the void. Often, this object is the killer's body itself. Put more bluntly, if someone slashes another person's throat, there'll be a void area on the wall behind them from where the blood spattered onto the killer's own upper body.
The killer's blood type
DNA derived only from the mother is called _______ DNA.
Alluvial
Maternal
Mitochondrial
The significance of mitochondrial DNA is that it survives much longer than nuclear DNA (which comes from the nucleus of the cell). Mitochondrial DNA has been used in cold cases like that of Jack the Ripper (though without definitive results).
X-
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What is a "control sample?"
An sample of generous size
A sample from a criminal suspect
A sample from a known source
A "control sample" is like the control in a science experiment: It's the known factor. So if a person is missing, and there's blood at their home, police might take a DNA sample from a full-blood sibling as a "control sample." If the DNA from the blood at the scene is a near-match for that of the sibling, that's conclusive: It's almost certainly the missing person's blood at the scene.
A sample that's been kept in controlled climate conditions
Investigators study "lands and grooves" in what branch of forensics?
Autopsy
Firearms analysis
Handguns and rifles have "rifling" in the barrel, a spiral pattern that makes the bullet spin, and thus keep a straighter trajectory. The rifling leaves "grooves" (scraped-away areas) on the slug; "lands" are the unmarked the metal between the grooves. This is how investigators can sometimes match up a slug to the gun that fired it.
Handwriting analysis
Digital forensics
"Bertillonage" was a system of identifying suspects by measuring their ________.
Body parts
Alphonse Bertillon created this system of taking about 20 body measurements to create a nearly unique profile of an offender. It became obsolete with the rise of fingerprinting.
IQ
Hair length
Psychological health
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What is the "chain of custody"?
Documentation of who had the evidence at every stage of the investigation
After an piece of evidence -- let's say, a shell casing -- is collected at the scene, documentation is kept of who had it at every point, all the way through to trial. This decreases the chances that someone could tamper with it and not get caught.
The stages of analysis that biological evidence undergoes
The route a body takes to the morgue
The shackles a suspect is kept in
Why doesn't it help criminals to damage/scar their fingertips in order not to leave identifiable fingerprints?
The skin has acids that are uniquely identifiable.
The skin heals in the same unique pattern.
If the skin doesn't heal, the damage is usually unique to also be identifiable.
Either #2 or #3
Certainly, criminals have thought of this. It doesn't usually work. Much better to wear gloves (though that won't prevent other types of evidence, like hairs and fibers, from being left at the scene).
Which of these is not a characteristic of a fingerprint?
Arch
Loop
Moue
There are three basic formations in the ridges of a fingerpint: arches, loops and whorls. A "moue" is a petulant expression made with the mouth -- you'll recognize this term if you read vintage novels.
Whorl
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An "exemplar" would be requested by an expert in what?
Handwriting
A handwriting sample is called an "exemplar." When blood or DNA is in question, the forensic scientist would ask for a "sample" or "specimen" instead.
Explosives
Fingerprints
Blood spatter
Pieces of evidence that are tiny, or almost microscopic, are called _____ evidence.
Unusable
Minute
Miniature
Trace
Trace evidence can include hairs, fibers, bits of soil and more. How much trace evidence is collected at a scene depends on how thoroughly investigators can go over a scene -- which is, in turn, dictated by departmental resources. Most jurisdictions can't afford to send a battery of technicians to swarm over every crime scene.
From whom would "elimination fingerprints" be taken?
Jurors
The victim
A suspect
Anyone who had recent access to the scene, including police personnel
Police officers and other investigators usually have fingerprints on file, in case they leave some at a crime scene. Likewise, other people living in a house where a crime took place might be fingerprinted. With these people ruled out, an unknown fingerprint is likely to be that of the criminal.
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What is "transient evidence"?
Evidence left by a homeless person
Evidence that won't last long without protective measures
A fingerprint made in water-soluble paint is transient evidence at a rainy crime scene. Direct sunlight, intense heat or intense cold can also threaten the "half life" of evidence.
Evidence in a trial that is about to begin
Evidence that is so small as to be microscopic
What is "CSI effect"?
The drop in crime due to criminals fearing being caught through forensics
The flood of students joining forensic-science programs since the advent of TV shows about it
The tendency of jurors to overestimate the infallibility of forensic evidence
"CSI effect" is the increasing tendency of average jurors to expect sophisticated forensics in every case, and to assume that forensic evidence is always 100 percent reliable. Defense attorneys want potential jurors to understand that cases don't hang on forensics alone -- motive still needs to be established, eyewitness testimony heard and so on.
The drop in crime on nights when everyone is home watching "CSI"
The mixing up of other material (genetic, biological or otherwise) with an evidence sample is called _______.
Contamination
Contamination occurs when evidence isn't treated with proper respect -- for example, if a technician were to handle it with bare hands, getting skin cells or fingerprints on it. It's only tampering if it's deliberate.
Involvement
Machination
Tampering
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Which of these can undermine the reliability/value of forensic evidence?
Limited resources
Human error
Deliberate tampering
All of these
Jurors increasingly believe that forensic evidence is infallible. But human error or deliberate tampering with evidence can bring about the wrong result. Limited resources come into play when agencies don't have the funds or personnel to collect enough evidence at a scene. Evidence can't be analyzed if it was never brought to the lab.
In digital forensics, what is metadata?
Data known to everyone
Data relevant to a specific criminal case
External or "envelope" information
A date stamp or timestamp on an email is an example of metadata. Overall, metadata is information that isn't part of a message or content, but tells experts in digital forensics where a message originated, and when and who might have sent it.
Data that does not actually exist
The process in which bodies and other organic materials break down after death is called ________.
Composition
Decomposition
Everything organic decomposes, right down to leaves and grass. But the type of decomposition that interests forensic investigators -- specifically, forensic anthropologists -- is human body decomposition.
Deconstruction
Gross
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Where is America's most famous "body farm" (where human decomposition in studied) located?
La Jolla, Calif.
Knoxville, Tenn.
Patricia Cornwell made this research facility famous when she wrote about it, even naming the book, "The Body Farm," after it. Actually called the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, it has more than a thousand people pre-registered to donate their bodies to the "farm."
Lovelock, Nev.
Boston, Mass.
Which of these branches of forensic science has become much more important in the last decade or so?
Blood spatter analysis
Fiber analysis
Handwriting analysis
Video analysis
The number of blood stains, clothing fibers and handwriting samples that need examination has remained more or less steady in the last decade. But smartphones and similar technology have created an explosion of video evidence, requiring many more experts who can recover, analyze and authenticate video recordings.
You Got:
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