Bad guys. You just gotta hate them. The problem is that not all bad guys are stupid and so crimes go unsolved, especially murders. Many times a premeditated murder will be made to look like an accident and the CSI guys and gals do a bang up job sifting through the minutest details to obtain the truth, but just as often, maybe more often, murderers find themselves needing to dispose of a body. Concrete overshoes, or a hole in a field somewhere filled with lime, etc. but transporting a body is hazardous and, I would imagine, a nuisance to such individuals. Serial killers often have no ties to their victims and are the hardest to track down but they also have the biggest body disposal problems which leads to the old bathtub hack and slash and I wonder if that fact could be used to societies' advantage.
It's up to the pathology department once again to track down the truth, I would like to add one more tool to their arsenal.
All drainage systems heading for the sewage treatment facility would be equipped to detect human blood, they would then be tested continuously for above average amounts and this data would be saved and stored for referral by law enforcement officials. Matching collected samples to those of the recently un-accidentally deceased would help to greatly narrow down possible locations for where a murder and subsequent disposal took place.
There will still be freaks out there feeding people to their hogs and whatnot, but many unsolved murder cases in cities and towns might not be unsolved if such a system were implemented.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 04 2010 [fries], my friend, you are now suspect number one in the daily murder mystery. And what about all that menstrual blood? I cut myself shaving a few minutes ago. Agatha Christie is rolling over in her grave ;-)-- normzone, Sep 04 2010 No self-respecting serial killer would fail to equip their chop shop with a range of aggressive biocides which are quite capable of denaturing the proteins in human blood beyond recognition, shirley ?-- 8th of 7, Sep 04 2010 I dunno. Is the cost of installing some rather complex analytical tool in every major sewer actually worth it? Methinks not.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 04 2010 hmmmm, small amounts of blood would not register.
//aggressive biocides are quite capable of denaturing the proteins in human blood beyond recognition//
Quite, and I'm sure that counter measures will be found by those in the know, but until it becomes common knowlege it would help catch many psychos. Would aggressive biocides degrade iron particles to the point where an electro magnet couldn't scrub them from sewage?An average human bodys' blood contains 2.5 grams of iron, say one quarter of that amount collected in one go would trigger a //rather complex analytical tool in every major sewer//.Samples could then be retrieved simply by flushing them to the next collection station. Small Pelton generators would provide power from the flow of the sewage itself. Individual systems could be autonomous and retrofitted to existing conduits when regular inspections are performed so the cost of man-power would be minimal.
Only large amounts of blood would trigger the system.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 05 2010 So from now on, all you have to do is bring the body over to your neighbor's house and butcher it there.-- DrWorm, Sep 05 2010 It wouldn't be that precise.
An entire subdivision or neighbourhood would be the closest you would be able to narrow a large blood flow to. Not individual residences. It would then be up to investigators to further narrow the search from there but the evidence would be recoverable where it is not now.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 05 2010 Can I ask a question? Why have you used the word "myelopoiesis" in the title?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 05 2010 sorry, I was busy with the earthquake and stuff. You called?-- methinksnot, Sep 06 2010 //why myelopoiesis//Well, it's blood related, sounds and looks vaugely similar to Miami (the most popular tv C.S.I.), and...it made you look.
You in forensics [methinksnot]?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 06 2010 [2 fries], some may think this idea falls short of your usual caliber but, look here: civil engineering mixed with real-time social anthropology and a dash of big brother bioscience. The idea is far too simple: measuring the blood in sewage water... maybe it's halfbaked in science fiction already? Anyways, (to [8th/7] in particular) why should proteins be the only measure of human blood in a greywater stream?
Ok, here is my point: if you were measuring the existence of degraded blood against a river then you might run into trouble. But, since we are confined to the sewage of individual watersheds, maybe we can skirt the degraded blood issue with some advanced analytics? I just have a hunch that blood has more of something that doesn't degrade than anything else (it may simply be iron as intimated by 2fries, already). +-- daseva, Sep 06 2010 // proteins be the only measure //
What else ?
Fats and carbohydrates are fairly generic across species. It's the proteins and the complex enzymes and other structures formed from them that are distinctive. De-nature the proteins and the signature molecules go with them.-- 8th of 7, Sep 06 2010 Maybe blood cells have more of a particular type of phospholipid in their cell walls. And maybe if we are able to screen for this molecule against a running average we could detect the possibility of blood in the stream.-- daseva, Sep 06 2010 You're only going to narrow it down to "mammalian" with phospholipids. For species specific, you need to go for expressed antigens, and they're invariably hydrogen-bonded proteins.
Close, but no cigar.-- 8th of 7, Sep 06 2010 //You're only going to narrow it down to "mammalian" with phospholipids// PETA could be called, too?-- daseva, Sep 06 2010 What about fish,reptiles, and avians ? Shame on you [daseva], you are a speciesist ! You'll be claiming it's OK to eat plants, next !-- 8th of 7, Sep 06 2010 What you want here is PCR or a similar technique, coupled with some sequencing technology. You could then identify the blood (or other bodily ingredients), and also the individual, if you had a DNA fingerprint for them on record).
Totally impractical, however.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 06 2010 But NOT if the proteins have been denatured by oxidisers ...
[MB], you are going to get a smack soon ...-- 8th of 7, Sep 06 2010 Proteins?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 06 2010 Carbon-Hydrogen-Oxygen complexes, but with the "e" and the "i" swapped to confuse the proles.-- 8th of 7, Sep 06 2010 And their relevance to PCR is?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 06 2010 The "e" and the "i" are exchanged. Hence, 'Polymirasi Chaen Riaction'-- 8th of 7, Sep 06 2010 random, halfbakery