What do writers and forensic scientists have in common?

[pbray]

Curiosity. Because the field of forensic science is changing so rapidly, curiosity and the desire to continually keep learning new things is considered an essential trait of a good forensic scientist.

It's also extremely helpful if you're a writer. At the current moment I'm researching the history behind the Human Genome Project (particularly the politics), requirements for a career as a high school science teacher, the history of the Military Tract of Central New York, and looking for first hand accounts of women police officers from the late 1970s/early 1980s, just to name a few. I need to know more about DNA analysis as well, but that's such a broad field that I need to frame my questions first before I go digging.

Resding: Just finished Forensic Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation by Ngaire E. Genge. It's a good introduction to the field for those considering a career in forensic sciences, and also appropriate for fans of mysteries and crime shows such as CSI as it includes numerous examples showing when they got the science right, and when they got it wrong. Showing how quickly the field moves, since this book was published in 2002 it's already out of date in some areas, but still worth reading.

Comments

[elizabeth-welsh.livejournal.com]

This must be a real challenge, since your book will have to be limited to whatever technology fits the timeframe it's written for. When advancements come so quickly, it would be easy to include a procedure that didn't exist if you go back only a few years. It never ceases to amaze me the little details readers pick up on in a book. "Oops that game came out six months after this story is supposed to take place," or "How could she have used an open bed MRI in that year when it wasn't in hospitals for two more?"

I cannot wait to read the results though. Hats off for taking on such a challenge!

[janni.livejournal.com]

I think scientists in general and writers have curiosity in common.

One more reason I want to rant when writers and artists talk about how they're right brained and not analytic and just can't handle that hard math and science stuff.

Scientists never do this. They tend to have interesting fiction on their shelves, to dabble in the arts, to generally be at ease with the idea that their fields of research are just one of the many things they're curious about.

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE THE KIND OF STUDENT TEACHERS ONLY DREAM OF. I'm just saying. When I taught history (and now, when I teach patrons about library research), it's a good year when you have one student as interested in the course subject as you seem to be.