Core Chemistry
Shannon Hendrick
February 26th, 2015
The article, Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA, by Andrew Pollack discusses a newly found way to determine physical features from DNA, called DNA phenotype. This new finding is helpful for investigations at crime scenes when the traditional way of discovering a suspect fails to work. DNA phenotyping will be more precise in finding the suspect because they are able to provide physical traits such as hair, eye color, and eventually other features such as freckles. DNA phenotype is being worked on by many people such as Susan Walsh, an assistant biology professor at Indiana University and Purdue University who stated, “That at least narrows down the suspects”, she is also helping to develop a new system called, HIrisPlex at Erasmus University MC Medical Center. Dr. Walsh, as well as a large DNA company, Illumina are working on finding out more about this system. However, some scientists question how reliable DNA phenotyping actually is. They question if this new system could make the problem worse by invading privacy, or not getting the face completely correct. Another professor, Mark D. Shriver who works on anthropology and genetics at Penn State University stated that their analysis says that some of the images that the given DNA created looked like the donor, while other pictures did not. “This is another of these areas where the technology is ahead of the popular debate and discussion,” said by Erin Murphy, a law professor at New York University. Although some people are worried about DNA phenotype, it is a topic that needs to be further discussed because it could help in the future.
This article talks about a new system that could greatly help the efforts when it comes to crime scenes. “It’s enabled us to actually change the direction we were focused on originally,” said Detective Sergeant Stacy Gallant when talking about a number of cases filed in Toronto from 1980-2014. An example of when this occurred is a case in Louisiana, when the police where looking for a white man, but from DNA they soon found out the ancestry was about 85% sub-Saharan African. This quickly changed who they were investigating for this case. By advancing this new technology, it would better help with how crime scenes are investigated, for now it is not necessary to have to match the DNA from the crime scene to a person they thought was a suspect. Not only could this help with the investigation with crime scenes, it could also be a factor in new findings in science because this system can show what someone looks like with their DNA which could be used for historic events too.
Overall, this article is well written, but there are a few places for improvement. When the author discusses that some scientists question the system of DNA phenotype, it would be better if he includes more about why they feel this way. If he did this it would’ve been easier for the reader to understand why some people feel this way. Another way this article could be improved is to better organize it. Sometimes while reading the article, I did not know if the author was referring to DNA phenotype, or the traditional way of finding DNA at a crime scene, so I had to re-read it multiple times. However, I think this article is well written and I have a better understanding for how they will further take this new system, and how it will help people in the future.
Pollack, Andrew. "Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
I chose to review Shannon's critique of Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA by Andrew Pollack. There were several things that i thought Shannon did very well. First of all, I thought her critique of the article at the end of the review was very interesting and mdd some good points about the authors work. Next, I gained a lot of insight on the system of DNA phenotyping with her facts in the first paragraph, because they backed up the points she was trying to make in the remainder of her review. I also thought that Shannon did a good job incorporating quotes from experts throughout the review. The quotes gave me some background information as well as opinions from experts on the subject. I learned a lot from her review about a topic that I had little exposure to prior to this. I learned how specific the new DNA systems could be, such as being able to determine whether someone has freckles or not. I also was informed of how this new technique could also be used for historical purposes not just criminal investigations. Though most of Shannon's review was very well done, there were a couple areas for improvement. I had hoped she would include some more background on the ideas of DNA phenotype and analysis of DNA at a crime scene, as this would have contributed greatly to my understanding of the subject. I also believe that she could have discussed the possibilities of DNA phenotype in more detail. However, overall it was a job well done.
ReplyDeletePollack, Andrew. "Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
Pollack, Andrew. "Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Shannon did an excellent job in sharing her newfound knowledge of DNA analysis. With an interesting topic like this, it was very helpful that she gave a lot of detail and explained precisely how it works. This makes it easier for the reader to understand how efficient this is. It was also very good that she included direct quotes from scientists and the article that she read, justifying her ideas about the article. I also like that she explained how it helps when solving a crime, allowing the reader to understand how it is relevant today. However, it would be interesting if she included how this is used around the world, if it is used in other countries. I would also like to know more of the background of DNA analysis to get a better understanding of how they were able to develop this kind of advance. I learned a lot from reading this response, especially how well this works and how it helps during crime scene investigations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/science/building-face-and-a-case-on-dna.html
ReplyDeletePollack, Andrew. "Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
I chose to read Shannon’s article review on “Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA.” What I really liked in this review was that she gave opinions from many scientists on the matter so it was easy to tell that this is an important topic that many scientists have looked into. In addition, she clearly stated the opposition side, which builds our understanding more of the topic and allows us as readers to also take our own sides on the issue. A third part that I liked was the way she wove in quotes from the article. I thought this made her critique stronger because she was supporting what she was saying with direct information from the scientists.
One thing that I might suggest for the future would be to set up the quotes you use a little more so we know the background of what's happening before you give us the quote. Otherwise, we don’t have much time to process that a quote is coming before you jump right into one. Also, it would have been interesting to know more about the traditional way that they found a person in a crime scene. However, it was overall a really good critique because the way she presented her ideas was very organized and her ideas on the topic were really interesting to hear. It definitely showed her high understanding of the article.
Jeff Sargent
ReplyDeletePollack, Andrew. "Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. .
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/science/building-face-and-a-case-on-dna.html
One of my classmates reviewed an article named Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA. This article was about something called a DNA phenotype. What this does is it allows people to determine certain physical features such as freckles, eye color, or hair color, just with DNA. This could help in places such as crime scenes to help find out more information about a possible suspect. In the review, I really liked how Shannon used multiple quotes from the text and quotes from professional and certified scientists. She quoted two scientists in the first paragraph alone, which really backed up her argument. Since she used these quotes, I feel like I am much more informed and I trust the information much more, rather than without scientific proof. Another thing that I really liked was that she used direct percentages and dates to give the reader an exact idea of when, what, and where. Lastly, I really like how she chose such an interesting topic and a topic that is not widely known yet. Before reading the article, I had no idea what a DNA phenotype was, nor how there is a problem of people claiming that DNA testing is an invasion of privacy. Even though this was a very good review, it still has room for improvement. One thing that Shannon could do is not use the word DNA so much throughout the article. I am not sure how possible this suggestion is, but if you look at the article, the abbreviation is used over 10 times. Another thing that could make this review even better is if she told more about her opinion, and if she thinks that it is an invasion of privacy or not. She used many fact that have been proven, but it would have been nice to have someone’s opinion on the subject. But I was most impressed with is that even in such an advanced society that we have, there is always room for improvement. There is always some way to make things easier or more accurate, and I think that this article portrays that well. Overall, I was very intrigued with this article and review, and would love to read more about it.
I chose to read Shannon’s review on the article, Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA, by Andrew Pollack. Shannon did a very good job talking about this article and it was very informative. There were several things that she did especially well. The review included many quotes, which showed me that this DNA phenotype idea has been studied and talked of by many people such as scientists at Penn and New York University. Also, she included many important details and even an example of when the DNA analysis has been used in a real crime investigation, where its results provided key information about that specific investigation. Something that I found very interesting is that Shannon talked about both the pros and cons of this new finding. It wasn’t bias and only praised it. As a matter of fact, it gave the hard facts as to why it has been criticized. This shows the reader that this concept is not fully developed and still has some flaws to it. I could make two suggests in order for Shannon to make her review even better. First, I think she should have explained exactly how to DNA phenotype works. At the end of the article, I understood its purpose, but I was still confused as to how it functioned. She could have gone back to the article and pulled out some detail as to how it works. Also, Shannon discusses how this new DNA analysis can help us in the future, but it would have been interesting to get an understanding as to what the next step is. Something that impressed me about the article is how the DNA phenotype can determine such features like freckles. All in all, Shannon’s review was well done and a good read.
ReplyDeletePollack, Andrew. "Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
Shannon Hendrick reviewed an article called, “Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA” by Andrew Pollack. This article was about DNA phenotypes. These are used to determine certain physical features or characteristics, such as eye color or hair color, just with DNA. A aspect that I really liked was that she used precise and exact data to let the reader know what was happening. I also really liked how Shannon used multiple quotes to support her point. These quotes really backed up her argument, and I trust the information a lot more. Lastly, I really like how she chose such an interesting and unique topic. I learned a lot and am glad to have read it. However, one thing that Shannon could do is try and refrain from using the word DNA so much. Another thing that she could do is state more about what her opinion and thoughts are on the topic. I was impressed with the fact that even in today’s society, there is still a lot of room for improvement and we are far from perfect. There are always ways to make things easier or more accurate, and I think that this article portrays that fact well. Overall, I really liked the article and her review, and would love to read more about the topic.
ReplyDeletePollack, Andrew. "Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
ReplyDeleteFor this current events, I decided to review Shannon Hendrick’s review on “Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA” by Andrew Pollack. In her writing, there were many things that I thought Shannon did very well on. I really liked how Shannon used multiple quotes from the text and quotes from professional and certified scientists, this backed up her argument very well. These quotes gave me insight into different opinions and background on the topic. She was able to give many facts in the first paragraph that gave me a much greater knowledge on the system of DNA phenotyping. Lastly, I enjoyed how I learned much on this topic that I had not originally known. I learned how specific the new DNA systems could be and also was taught of how this new technique could be used for historical purposes. Although Shannon’s review was very well done and informative, there were a few places where I believe that she could have improved. I wish she would have included some more background on DNA phenotype and analysis of DNA at a crime scene, as I would have had a much better knowledge on the topic and how they were able to develop this kind of advancement. Also, if she was able to compare this with how places around the world are approaching this idea, or if they are not this advanced yet. One aspect that impressed me was that DNA phenotyping will be more precise in finding suspects because they are able to provide physical traits such as hair, eye color, and eventually other features such as freckles. It is very impressive how advanced we have become. Overall, Shannon did a very well job at reviewing this article.