Cleveland Clinic geneticist takes part in testing of Abraham Lincoln’s DNA

Cleveland.com Ohio
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Abraham Lincoln has been dead for nearly 146 years. But today, President’s Day, a National Geographic Channel television special revisits a medical mystery that has long surrounded our 16th president.

Amelia Earhart – DNA research targets mystery

Physorg
Working from four hand-written letters attributed to the famous pilot, SFU forensic scientist Dongya Yang hopes to extract DNA found in the saliva used by Earhart to seal the letters. His findings could help shed light on recent claims that bone fragments found on a South Pacific island belong to Earhart.

A better way to manage evidence

Washington Post
…The District has almost completed a $220 million state-of-the-art forensics laboratory on Fourth Street SW. The city now has minimal forensics capability, farming out much of the work to federal facilities. The new building, set to open in 2012, will bring under one roof laboratory services and scientific investigations, including DNA/biological analysis, computer forensics and firearm examination. The new facility holds the real promise of boosting the District’s capabilities in solving and successfully prosecuting crimes…

Experts lose hope of finding Kosovo’s missing

Swiss Info
The morgue in the capital of Kosovo, Pristina, holds many secrets, with the unidentified bodies of about 300 victims of the Balkan wars.
Nearly 12 years after the end of the conflict, it’s the job of Valérie Brasey, a human rights specialist from Geneva, to help forensic experts identify these mortal remains.

Kenyan DNA expert runs EA’s only ‘crime lab’

The East African Kenya
When she returned home from the US in 2006, Sophie Mukwana, 33, hoped to work for the Kenyan government as a forensic expert.
She had just completed her masters programme in analytical chemistry at the University of California, and the Kenyan government was planning to build the Police Forensic Laboratory.

Recent rape collaring proves that it’s nuts not to collect DNA from everyone cops arrest

New York Daily News
DNA is really just a genetic fingerprint, and there is no reason why it should not be collected at every arrest.

DNA collection before conviction fought in federal court

Pittsburgh Tribune Review
The government contends that taking and analyzing criminal suspects’ DNA samples is no more intrusive than taking their photos and fingerprints. Ruben M. Mitchell, 42, of Stockton, Calif., argues that it’s akin to letting police search his house without a warrant just because he’s been arrested.