Now through DNA we have hard evidence that there is a lot more mistakes being made than we ever expected. That means there are thousands of people in jail today who could prove their innocence with DNA tests. After Innocence, Barry Scheck on Phil Donahue Show, 2005
There are fifty trillion cells that make up your body. Each one with a DNA blueprint that encodes for the making of you. Graham Downing, lecture Alternative View 6 conference, ‘DNA Codes Under Attack: The Vaccine Agenda’
DNA extracted from the bones of an extinct bison shows that the environment influenced the way the animal’s genes worked without altering the genetic code. It is the best evidence yet that such epigenetic changes can be fossilized. ibid.
The Phosphorus glows because it’s highly reactive in oxygen … The backbone of our DNA and the DNA of all living things. Mark Miodownik, Secrets of the Super Elements ***** BBC 2018
We leave our DNA in the world as we walk through it … The problem with DNA is that is you have science that is misunderstood, that science becomes like magic … and that’s what makes it very very dangerous. Exhibit A s1e4: Touch DNA, expert’s opening commentary, Netflix 2019
When you start talking about mixtures, it starts getting a little complicated. There’s always going to be a problem of latent DNA on any surface we’re testing. ibid. DNA expert #2
Do you think you could identify four songs if they are all playing at different volumes? ibid.
In ultraviolet light a technician purifies the very essence of life. Scientists have acquired profound new abilities: they can read the secret code of life and change its genetic structure. The greatest of mysteries may soon be solved. In Search of s2e14 … The Secrets of Life, 1978
Each year there are over 500 murders in Britain. Every one is a tragedy sending shockwaves through families and communities. But some murders have an impact that no-one could have predicted, sparking a chain of events that ripple far beyond overturning old laws, revolutionising crime detection and ultimately changing the world we live in. Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes that Changed Us I, BBC 2019
A hunt to find the killer of two teenage girls leads to a new science – DNA profiling. ibid.
Leicestershire: ‘Lynda left home at 7:15 last night. She told her mother and stepfather she was going to see friends in Enderby.’ ibid. television news
‘Someone who knew the area and was local.’ ibid. lead investigative rozzer
Linda’s killer was blood group A shared by one in three people. ibid.
The screening in Narborough had also demonstrated something else. The potential to collect DNA profiles and store them on a computer database. ibid.
The dramatic advances of the past few decades have led to the discovery of DNA, and to the decipherment of the universal hereditary code, the age-old language of the living cell. And with this understanding will come the control of processes that have known only the mindless discipline of natural selection for two billion years … We will surely come to the time when man will have the power to alter specifically and consciously his very genes. This will be a new event in the universe. The prospect is to me awesome in its potential for deliverance or equally for disaster. Storyville: The Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature, Robert Sincheimer, California Institute of Technology 1966, BBC 2020
Conventional gene therapy is essentially a random process.’ ibid. Fyodor Urnov, Innovative Genomics Institute
It fundamentally allows us to change our relationship with Nature. It actually allows us to change human evolution if we want. ibid. scientist
A 14-year-old boy in Pakistan who felt no pain … He has a mutation in one gene. ibid.
In our view, genome editing in human embryos using current technologies could have unpredictable effects on future generations. ibid. Nature: Don’t Edit the Human Germ Line, Lanphier, Fyodor Urnov et al
Editing Humanity: The prospect of genetic enhancement. ibid. The Economist front cover August 2015
Star Trek: It is a vision of progress and the potential of science to make life better. ibid. Alta Charo, Bioethicist, Wisconsin-Madison University
But advances in DNA technology called Investigative Genetic Genealogy offer hope for investigators in solving the 27-year old case. Very Scary People: Norcal Rapist: Phantom Predator II, CI 2020
Roy Charles Waller: he is 58 years old, he is a white male … and has worked at UC Berkeley for the last 25 years. ibid.
DNA found on the T-shirt of British tourist Joanne Lees was 150 quadrillion times more likely to have come from Bradley John Murdoch that any other Northern Territory citizen. Murder in the Outback: The Falconio & Lees Mystery IV, newspaper article, Channel 4 2020
The DNA testing in the Kombi and on the Manacles was the ‘low copy number method’ DNA … This controversial method has been called into question with critics saying it is ‘not reliable’ evidence. ibid. caption
The DNA from the manacles had been contaminated. ibid. Professor
Their DNA can be transferred without them actually being involved. ibid. DNA expert
Why is there so little of Brad Murdoch’s DNA on Joanne Lees? ibid. defence dude
There was very little clear evidence at all … The chance of identifying someone clearly is very small. ibid. DNA expert
This case is riddled with doubt. ibid. defence dude
The so-called crime scene: there is no shell casing, no blood spatter, no brain matter, drag marks: absolutely no evidence of a murder. More importantly there is no body. And there are other holes: the analysis of the CCTV footage taken at the truck stop that is said to be Murdoch may not today stand up to scrutiny. And the account given by the truck driver who picked up Joanne Lees could put a number of other people in the frame. ibid.
He’s [Murdoch] not stupid. If you’ve got a load of drugs on, you don’t go mucking around up the highway shooting people and kidnapping women. It just doesn’t fit. ibid. truck driver
I do not believe that Bradley Murdoch should have been convicted. ibid. Professor Barry Boettcher, blood specialist
This groundbreaking work was to become known as DNA enhancement. And it was to be a gamechanger. Cold Case Forensics: The Murder of Rachel Nickell, ITV 2023