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| The peaks of a "map" of DNA. Found at www.newscientist.com |
DNA testing and evidence and is often portrayed and thought of as THE standard to be compared too. A sort of holy grail for forensic science, it is commonly idealized as the ace in the hole piece of evidence. Those unfamiliar with it more often than not are convinced that DNA evidence is irrefutable. Wait, isn't it?
Unfortunately, it depends on your perspective. How could that be? Either your DNA matches or it doesn't, it's science. A typical DNA "reading" so to speak, consists of peaks related to repeated pieces of DNA found in specific areas called loci. Problems come in when you have DNA that is not ideal (either partial, mixed, contaminated, or old samples) as well as subjective bias from lab technicians as to which loci should be compared.
Subjective bias? Strangely enough, there are very few standards followed by labs for criminal DNA testing leaving interpretation of the results to the perspective of the technician, and the fate of the accused even varying by lab!1
As an ice climber in Utah, I learned long ago that personal bias and abilities, expectations, pride, and subjective interpretation comes into play when talking about conditions, just like DNA analysis. Even though I love it, climbing ice here is fickle. So you try to wildly hypothesize what is in, what is climbable, and at the same time, hunt for any knowledge already out there.
I was told "man, it's too warm, you might be able to get on the staples in Provo Canyon, but that's about it." In fact, I went out onto the Great White Icicle afternoon the other day and I didn't even bother going past pitch 3. Why push it through poor ice when we still have months too go?
Still, there is climbing to be had, and we decided we would rally up to "Hell Froze Over" WI5 M5 X on Hellgate in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
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| My calf's are getting pumped! |
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| How can you not love mixed climbing? |
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| Just think, if this pitch takes more than 30 minutes, it will count as an ARC session! We must follow the Rock Prodigy training gospel of the Anderson Brothers! |
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| Never let climbing get in the way of a good training session for climbing Shad counsels during the final runout. |
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| Back down in time for lunch! A demonstration of the perfect rope toss. All Photo by Sawyer Wylie |
1 Pretty wild huh? Should you be interesting in reading more on the subject, please follow the links below: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727733.500-fallible-dna-evidence-can-mean-prison-or-freedom/ http://stories.frontline.org/dna http://www.scienceandjusticejournal.com/article/S1355-0306(11)00096-7/abstract http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2015/10/10/Court-to-decide-defense-request-for-secret-DNA-computer-source-code/stories/201510100063
