Hair Anatomy
The center portion of a hair shaft
What is medulla?
This ratio is the most common way to distinguish human from nonhuman hair.
What is medullary index?
Using hair as evidence in criminal investigation dates back to what century?
What is the 19th century (1800s)
About how many hairs are collected from a suspect or person of interest in an investigation?
What is 50?
This microscope allows for side-by-side analysis of hairs collected from a crime scene.
What is a comparison microscope?
The part of the hair where pigment granules are located.
What is the cortex?
If the hair shaft is a flattened oval in cross section, it tells you this about the individual's hair.
What is curly or kinky hair?
On the average, how fast does hair grow per month?
What is one-half inch or 1.3 cm per month?
How you collect hair trace evidence if the hair is not firmly attached to anything?
What is with forceps and placed into a small box, bindle or vial.
IRMS is a technique used to determine the ratio of these special atoms in a person's hair to compare with locations where that person had been.
What are isotopes?
This part of a hair is composed of downward-pointing scales.
What is the cuticle?
The term used when the medulla forms an unbroken line under a microscope.
What is continuous?
In 2015, the DOJ, FBI, and the Innocence Project found that at least what percent of the cases that relied on hair evidence contained errors?
What is 90%
What must be done before hair is collected in a crime scene?
What is photograph the hair in situ and document its location?
This type of DNA found in a hair shaft can be used as class evidence.
What is mitochondrial DNA?
This part of the hair, if present, will provide nuclear DNA evidence.
What is the follicle (or follicular tag)?
What ethnic group is best associated with straight hair and evenly distributed pigment granules?
What is Asian?
As a result of the 2015 study, a law was passed stating that hair evidence alone is not sufficient for this.
What is a conviction?
How do you collect hair evidence if it is firmly attached to another item?
What is collect both the hair and the item and package it together, if dry, in a sealable container.
NAA is a process of tracing the radioactive paths of these subatomic particles to determine the age of archaeological specimens, gunshot residue, and geograaphic locations.
What are neutrons?
The dead shaft of a hair is made from this protein substance.
What is keratin?
What name is given to the scale pattern found in human hair?
What is imbricate?
When his hair was analyzed, it was originally believed that Napoleon Bonaparte had been poisoned by this.
What is Arsenic?
This term is used for animal hair found with human hair on clothing or objects.
What is secondary transfer?
This machine is used identify drugs, toxins, and heavy metals in hair as well as to assess nutritional deficiencies.
What is the gas chromatograph?