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mercoledì 26 agosto 2015

Wanted: Crime-solving bacteria and body odor

Forensic biologist Silvana Tridico was puzzled by pubic hair.

Specifically, pubic hair samples donated by two volunteers.

She had just finished analyzing the bacteria stuck to the hair of seven people. If each hair sample carried unique mixes of bacteria, Tridico reasoned, investigators might have a new tool to help identify crime suspects. Hair bacteria, like fingerprints, could offer a forensic link between criminals and the bits of bodily debris they left behind.

But two of the hair samples held nearly identical microbe populations. “I thought I’d made a mistake,” Tridico says. She repeated the analysis, and still, the hairs’ bacteria matched. One explanation came to mind.

“I said to my partner, ‘I think they’ve had sex.’ ”

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