http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/ ... 2011-05-02
How Do You ID a Dead Osama?
By Christie Wilcox | May 2, 2011
Now, I'm not entirely sure what DNA analysis has been done, but I can say this for certain—whatever method they used could be completed in a matter of hours given a lab ready to go and focused solely on this. Using commonplace PCR methods—which, for the record, is what I use in my lab every day—Bin Laden could easily be ID'd faster than you'd think. Heck, I can get DNA from a fish and turn it into sequences or genotypes in 24 hours, so I think the US government can work faster than me when time is of the essence.
Allow me to explain how they could do it so quickly:
Se article for nice description of experimental procedures.
http://topicfire.com/share/Osama-bin-La ... 67113.html
Osama bin Laden and the DNA match
How they determine Osama bin Laden really is Osama bin Laden
Once samples from all sources are in hand, analysts isolate a bit of DNA from each sample, make lots of copies of it, and then process the copies through a machine that analyzes genetic markers — DNA fingerprints — that have been passed down through a subject’s family. Typically, Bieber said, DNA tests examine around 15 of these markers.
...in high-profile cases like this one, law enforcement agencies might already have genetic profiles of the relatives available — which means they’d only have to complete one additional test.
The comments after the article are pretty cool too!
This story was the only one I saw that had an actual interview of someone who explained the testing.
http://www.local12.com/news/local/story ... spx?rss=30
DNA Testing Confirms Osama Bin Laden Dead
Lauran Neergaard, Lolita C. Baldor, Ben Feller and Matt Apuzzo
Published: 5/01 11:03 pm
Updated: 5/02 5:27 pm
Dr. Bruce Budowle, a former senior scientist at the FBI, said DNA confirmation can be achieved quickly under the right circumstances. Budowle, currently director of the Institute of Investigative Genetics at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, said using a sample of blood or a cheek swab, "you extract the DNA that day, get the PCR done in the same day, put it on the machine that night... and interpret it the following day." PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, technology allows scientists to rapidly copy a single stretch of DNA using cycles of heating and cooling. Then it's a matter of adding fluorescent dyes to compare specific spots on that chunk of DNA with the relative's sample. If markers on standard, well-known regions match, they have a positive identification. The U.S. is believed to have collected DNA samples from bin Laden family members in the years since the 9/11 attacks that triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. It was unclear whether the U.S. also had fingerprints or some other means to identify the body on site.
In other interesting news:
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsid ... html?rss=1
Geographers Had Calculated 81% Chance That Osama Was in Abbottabad
by Sara Reardon on 2 May 2011
Could Osama bin Laden have been found faster if the CIA had followed the advice of ecosystem geographers from the University of California, Los Angeles? Probably not, but the predictions of UCLA geographer Thomas Gillespie, who, along with colleague John Agnew and a class of undergraduates, authored a 2009 paper predicting the terrorist’s whereabouts, were none too shabby. According to a probabilistic model they created, there was an 80.9% chance that bin Laden was hiding out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed last night. And they correctly predicted that he would be in a large town, not a cave.
It’s not my thing to do this type of [terrorism] stuff,” he says. “But the same theories we use to study endangered birds can be used to do this.”
In the end, they zeroed in on a Pakistani border town called Parachinar which has, among other things, access to medical care. Then they predicted the exact building he would be in by making assumptions as to the characteristics of the building itself, such as high enough ceilings to accommodate bin Laden’s 6’4” frame, a fence, privacy, and electricity.
The undergraduates did such a nice job on the project, Gillespie says, that he wrote the results up as a paper and submitted it to a small journal, MIT International Review. The next day, he was shocked to find his inbox full of requests for interviews from everyone from USA Today to Sean Hannity.
