The other day I was watching one of those forensics shows and during the program it mentioned that one can tell the “race” of the pube owner (pubes are always left on the scene of a crime, of course) by examining it under a microscope. The helpful narrator listed the races: caucasian, negroid, and mongoloid.
:dubious:
OK, so ignoring the unhelpful racial classifications that sound like they’re from the 1950s or a KKK pamphlet, how true is this? I don’t find it that much of a stretch to believe that different populations may have different sorts of pubes (or any other sort of hair) that an expert could discern and help investigators narrow the suspect profile. But is that true? Can anyone lay down some knowledge?
Are you sure they didn’t extract nuclear, Y-Str or mitochondrial dna from the hair root? I am not aware that they can identify racial group from pubes, but if they got some dna that’s another story. While there is no “race gene” there are many markers that are associated with certain haplogroups. So, for example, if mtDna was extracted (maternal lineage dna) they might be able to say that the maternal lineage of the contributor of the dna was from a haplogroup originating in sub-Saharan Africa or northern Europe. It gets a little dicey though, esp in America, where there is a lot of racial mixing. A person might have dna origins from Africa, but not look ‘black’.
Head hairs are different shapes in cross section depending on race, supposedly. I have no idea if that extends to pubes.
As an undergrad in a physical-anthropology course, we had to identify race based on hairs viewed through a microscope. Admittedly, I did not do very well in that exercise. Some were easy to eliminate; for instance, an East Asian’s hair is not at all like a white European’s or American’s, but I recall that I myself could not distinguish it from I think it was Hispanic. And these were head hairs.
No. They were just talking about examining it under a microscope. The show itself seemed to have been made recently but the case itself was in the mid 80s. I appreciate the replies though.
Were said pubes by chance on a Coke can?
Forensic Science Lab Exercise #7
HAIR IDENTIFICATION
- Race characteristics
a. Negroid diameter usually 60-90 microns; flat-appearing cross-section; pigmentation is dense and clumped; flat cuticle scales; prevalent twist/undulation.
b. Caucasoid diameter usually 70-100 microns; round-appearing cross-section;
pigmentation is evenly distributed; medium cuticle scales; uncommon twist/undulation.
c. Mongoloid - diameter usually 90-120 microns; oval appearing cross-section;
pigmentation is dense auburn; thick cuticle scales; never twisted or undulated.
I have no clue how this looks under a microscope but according to the above description black hair has a prevalent twist which is distinctly different than the other 2 race characteristics.