Busman's holiday reading

I have just come back from a very lovely, relaxing holiday. Thanks to the general quiet and lack of other things to do but chill, I polished off two books. And what were my books of choice? Why, Kathy Reichs' latest offerings, of course! I read 206 Bones and Spider Bones - both classics in KR's inimitable style. 206 Bones had a poorly disguised agenda, which is actually quite close to my heart. In it, Tempe was plagued by office politics and people with few qualifications attempting to do her job. This is, unfortunately, rife in the world of Forensic Anthropology, where universities are churning out keen eager graduates, desperate to make a mark for themselves in the field. This leads to awful rivalry, back-stabbing and high levels of competition - more so than in almost any other scientific discipline, it seems. KR's suggestion, and it is very necessary, is that all people who want to be FAs need to be competency-tested. In the USA, there is a great system - the rigorous ABFA exams. In the UK, such tests don't yet exist. Hopefully, the newly formed BAFA will address this problem, but the road is long and bumpy, and fraught with controversy.
With hindsight, perhaps my books weren't the best choice for a holiday where thoughts about work were banned!

What is this bone?

We at the Centre for Forensic Anthropology Research at Cranfield University have just launched the What is this bone? service, where anyone can send us a good digital picture of any bone or bones they would like to be identified. We will try our best (as long as the quality of the photograph is good enough) to provide information about what type of bone it is, whether it is animal or human, juvenile or adult, archaeological or forensic, and any other information we can. Go on, test us!

More pig experiments

I'm getting excited about a new round of decomposition experiments I am about to start. This time, we're doing a long-term study looking at how the conductivity of the soil changes with time after burial, to use the nutrient content of the soil and its conductivity to determine how long the body has been buried. I am just trying to organise the logistics at the moment, which includes strimming the Forensic Fieldwork Facility of all the weeds that have grown up! Don't worry, I will keep you informed...

Girls storm the science scene

I've just been alerted to this article, which shows how well American school girls did at the first Google science fair. It just goes to show how the tables are turning, and women are making significant in-roads into the previously male-dominated sciences. It also adds support to my research that suggests that women are being introduced to science at a much earlier age than they used to be, and science 'sticks' with them throughout their school and university careers. Love it! Also, check out their Lego trophies!

Facebook for educational purposes

I have been interested for a while in using social networking as a way of enhancing the learning experience for my students, so after a bit of trial and error, I have set up 4 new pages on Facebook, for each of the modules I run and the Centre I head up. I hope that the students enrolled on each module will be able to access the pages, 'like' them and use them for asking questions of each other and the lecturers, discussing topics raised by the modules, and for posting useful links and information to each other.
Any ideas for 'jazzing' them up gratefully received! See what you think:
Centre for Forensic Anthropological Research
Fundamentals of Forensic Anthropology: Osteology
Mass Fatality Incidents
Forensic Craniofacial Identification

Wish me luck!

I am giving an important presentation today to the CDS Executive at Cranfield, describing how I have spent the £8,000 grant they kindly gave me to set up my Forensic Fieldwork Facility. I hope it goes well!

Warning! Pig decomposition movie spoiler!

I am still compiling the time lapse camera footage from the pig decomposition experiments I have been doing on F3. Here's another 'taster' of the full length feature film that will soon be available. Look out for the seething maggot mass.

Also, look who has come to take advantage of the insects and maggots drawn to the carcass... it's the "c..i..rcle of l..i..fe" (cue Elton John music)...