February 27, 2008

DNA Facial Feature Identification

I wonder if any work is being done on DNA-facial feature mapping? DNA should be a huge indicator of a person's physical characteristics (think hook-nose, cleft chin, eye color, hair color, race, facial shape). I wonder if anyone is doing work in this area to find non-common denominators? With recent analysis that determined that twin DNA is not always identical, perhaps physical characteristic analysis is being done in the DNA arena. I think it would be very efficient to be able to pull some skin out from the fingernails of a victim, pop it into a computer and get a basic printout that showed some guy with an oval face, a cleft chin, brown eyes, thin brow in his 40s (as judged by telemoerase decay) and be able to say 'This is the guy we're looking for'. The preponderance of criminals with plastic surgery probably isn't all that much of a problem, and it would be a fantastic investigative tool.

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