Fingerprints are far from foolproof, eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable, and fibers can lead you astray. Luckily, there’s always DNA. Each human being on this planet has its own unique genetic code (except for identical twins, who are, unsurprisingly, identical except for mutations). By analyzing this code, we can match the criminal to the crime.Israeli scientists have demonstrated that it's possible to fabricate DNA evidence – to make the innocent seem guilty, or cast doubt on a crime scene.
They fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that, with access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.
Dan Frumkin, the study leader, had this to say: “You can just engineer a crime scene. Any biology undergraduate could perform this.” And if you know anything about biology undergraduates, that’s a pretty frightening thought...
Frumkin is the founder of Nucleix, the Tel Aviv-based company that has developed a test to distinguish real DNA samples from fake ones (based on the detection of certain DNA molecules missing in the fake samples) which they hope to sell to forensics laboratories.
It’s going to be an interesting world...
