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In the 24 hours since we started the campaign to put Dr. Bill Bass on a U.S. postage stamp, we’ve gotten over 100 “likes” on Facebook and a retweet from famous author Patricia Cornwell. Susan Seals suggested the stamp campaign after the dedication ceremony for the Dr. William M. Bass Forensic Anthropology Center on Tuesday.
The sun shone brightly on the invited guests. I sat between FBI Public Affairs Specialist Stacie Bohanan and Dr. Arpad Vass. In the moments before the ceremony began, I asked Dr. Vass what would happen to a corpse in the sun. It would desiccate, he told me. It might also turn red as the cells under the skin broke down. An array of deans and professors cut the ribbon, and by ribbon I mean crime-scene tape.
Stacie shared some of her photos with me. She got a nice shot of me with Dr. Bass. Author Jon Jefferson planted a surprise kiss on my cheek just as Stacie clicked the shutter.
Before the dedication, we looked around the inside of the building. Several of us joked about climbing onto the autopsy table or onto one of the slabs in the walk-in cooler. In reality, nobody would dare do anything to ruin Dr. Bass’ special day. For the open house, the lab was decorated with large photos of a body going through the various stages of decomposition.
Dr. Al Hazari said it would be funny to climb into one of the huge Blodgett kettles. He did stick his head in for a closer look. In a restaurant, the kettles might be used to cook soup. In the forensic building, they will be used to remove stubborn flesh from bone.
Hearts and Souls
Two words on the Twitter feed for the Catholic website New Advent stood out: cadavers and Catholic. The link took me to an article that shared a topic with the book I’m currently reading.
The article in Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune was titled “Gross Anatomy at Catholic School Teaches Sacred, Profane.” The reporter witnessed a blessing of 18 cadavers by a priest at the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago. The article tells the story of the late Salvation Army Maj. Randall Sjogren, whose body was probably under one of the sheets. It’s unusual that his widow addressed the students. The article even has another Paul Harvey-like twist at the end.
“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” had been on my Amazon Wish List for years. I bought the e-book version last month after receiving a Kindle for my birthday. I read a few pages each day as I start my nap and again when I go to bed for the night. The first chapter of the book describes dissections at the UCSF School of Medicine and goes on to teach the history of anatomical research.
Here in Knoxville, they have a prayer service every year for the humans whose remains are in the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection at the University of Tennessee. The bones are collected at the Body Farm and stored in office space inside Neyland Stadium, as referenced in the movie “The Blind Side.” The skeletons will soon move to a new building. The Dr. William M. Bass Forensic Anthropology Center is scheduled to open at the end of this month.
Familial DNA
Most of the members and guests of the FBI Knoxville Citizens’ Academy Alumni Association didn’t realize that they were doing one of the same exercises as the middle school kids who enroll in the “Fun with Forensics: Adventures in Chemistry” summer camp run by Dr. Al Hazari. At the conclusion of our tour of the National Forensic Academy, we used mini-marshmallows, Twizzlers and toothpicks to make models of DNA molecules. I know this because my son volunteered as a lab assistant at the chemistry camp last summer. He and I also toured the NFA last summer. We got to see some different stuff last night.
Earlier in the evening, one of the instructors said that Knoxville was the center of the forensic universe, thanks to the Body Farm, Oak Ridge National Lab and the National Forensic Academy. Over the past ten years, police officers from 47 states have trained at the NFA. Only Hawaii, Vermont and Rhode Island have failed to send anyone to take the ten-week course. From a couple of the anecdotes that Evidence Technician Tim Schade told us, it sounds like the Knoxville Police Department has some advanced equipment that you might not expect to find in a city its size. Tim also showed us how to dust for fingerprints on porous and non-porous surfaces.
In a pitch-black room, Oak Ridge Police Detective David Stephens showed us alternative light sources that illuminated various stains such as bleach, milk and spit. He then demonstrated BLUESTAR® FORENSIC latent bloodstains reagent, which lights up when sprayed on bloodstains that are invisible to the naked eye.
In a third room, we collected evidence at a staged crime scene and learned how to properly seal an evidence bag. The NFA’s Robert Geiger showed us bullet holes in a car windshield and let us figure out whether they were fired from the inside or outside. Then he put a laser in a bullet hole and then lined up a gun with the light to determine the bullet’s trajectory.
Since we would be gathering in Oak Ridge around dinner time, I asked Dave Neusel of Big Ed’s Pizza to provide a few pizzas for the group to enjoy. He is a big supporter of Dr. Bill Bass and the Bone Zones team. I correctly guessed that he would generously help out our group too. We were able to raise some money for the Junior Special Agent program and a few other good deeds to come in the months ahead.
Science Fair
Erica Estep had her first visit with Dr. Bill Bass on Tuesday. Here’s what she posted on Facebook: “I was expecting a man who deals with death so much to be creepy, but he was fascinating, funny and I enjoyed the time we spent at his home. He talked with me about the Casey Anthony trial and why the science being introduced is reliable.”
Now that Erica is a Bass fan, she should come to the next “Dinner with the Bone Doctor” at Echo Bistro & Wine Bar on August 8th.
Power Is in Your Hands
Do you want your logo on a robot? A friend emailed me that question because her son’s robotics team needs sponsors for their trip to St. Louis. The Hardin Valley RoHawktics didn’t win the overall competition at the Smoky Mountain Regional FIRST Robotics Competition on Saturday but they did win the Rookie All Star Award and the Highest Rookie Seed Award after experiencing some difficulty on Friday. Their entry is named Hawktimus Prime.
At the end of the month, the RoHawktics get to compete at the FIRST Championship at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. FIRST means For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The organization was founded by the Segway guy, Dean Kamen. He was in Knoxville to watch the competition on Friday.
My friend is looking for suggestions for potential sponsors. The team needs to quickly raise at least $6,000 for the trip, which includes robot parts, travel expenses and the sizable registration fee. The last time my friend and her son asked me to be a sponsor, I happily said yes. Of course it didn’t cost me anything to be the young man’s Confirmation sponsor.
The Ideal Brain Tonic
It was difficult to take a picture of the image that was only on our screen for a split second during a commercial in the AFC Championship game. Now that my wife and I have captured a slightly blurry photo of Coca-Cola’s secret formula, it’s only a matter of time before we can have our son, the chemical-engineering major, whip us up some homemade soda that’s just as good as the real thing.
Sublimation
What do you do with dry ice? If you were my son, you would make awesome soap bubbles with it. We got some in the mail when my mother sent us a gift package of Omaha Steaks.
A home freezer can’t get cold enough to keep the carbon dioxide frozen, so the only choice is to let it go gaseous. Frank Jr. dropped the dry ice into a cup of water. He soaked a paper towel in soapy water and then placed it over the cup to create a film. As the dry ice warmed, it made bubbles that looked like they were filled with fog.
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