in a post-911 world the field of
forensic science has become more urgent
and important than ever deaths related
to global terrorism have spiked and in
2015 alone more than 29,000 people were
killed as a result of terrorist attacks
the pervasive threat of mass casualty
terror attacks demands new innovations
in forensics especially when it comes to
how we investigate large-scale blast
sites samples of these can be taken and
sent for DNA analysis Kim Moran is an
instructor at arcadia university who
works with FBI agents police bomb squads
and forensic scientists and how to best
respond to the aftermath of a bombing
when a blast happens it’s so important
to be able to identify all the victims
that are involved so that we can return
those remains back to the family in
terms of personal effects people we’re
very kind of easily to distinguish
jewelry so this could really help
identify the individual debris from a
blast can also be used to identify the
perpetrator a crucial first step in
identifying any links to terror
organizations but before this evidence
gets to the lab it has to be collected
in the field and training for that is
where the challenges of living in a
radically new world lead to some radical
new solutions I’ve come to Pennsylvania
to shadow Kim as she takes students
through her unorthodox approach to
learning the intricacies of post blast
investigation we’re in a parking lot and
a group of students are dressing dead
animals up behind us what’s happening we
have a bus today where we’re setting a
charge and we have a number of
passengers on that vehicle we can’t use
human cadavers yes um and this is our
next best thing previously deceased
animals so these are the passengers
essentially zar the passengers you know
using a mannequin it’s just not going to
be affected by the blast in the same way
as an actual biological entity it’s
really important for first responders to
have really the full realistic
experience of going out to a post blast
investigation with the sights and the
smells and the sounds
would happen for a real incidents such
as the real the smells are very real yes
to mimic real-world evidence gathering
the students create a fake identity for
each animal this is Madison Kelly Wow
you literally put lipstick on a pig and
outfit them accordingly the personal
effects that we’re including will help
the responders positively identify the
individuals some of the stuff that would
deem a little absurd about what’s
happening behind us that’s actually
happening because you are trying as much
as possible to recreate exactly family
members are gonna see something happen
on television and they’re going to
wonder if their son or daughter husband
or wife was involved in any way what is
this a sheep she’s actually an expecting
mother oh I knew I hated this one okay
as the day swings into dear the students
load up the animals and put them in
place on the bus at the blast site a 3d
scanner is also on hand to map the site
before and after the blast captures a
million points a second as it scans and
is able to deliver a very quick summary
of what happened at that scene but
there’s no experiment without an
explosion enter the local bomb experts
who board the bus and set the explosive
device so on one hand we’re here at the
forefront of a pretty important
experiment in modern-day forensic
science on the other hand I’m standing
here in front of a school bus that’s
filled with dead farm animals dressed up
in human clothes and they’re about to be
blown to smithereens oh no final three
two one
you
to the untrained eye this is just pure
and total chaos the search team must
quickly sift through the rubble to mark
any evidence that can help identify the
animals on the bus like body parts or
personal effects no matter how small
from a cigarette but you could get a DNA
profile even a stray piece of plastic
could be a bomb fragment that may help
identify the killer I don’t know
anything on a bus that looks like this
as the investigators work the ground the
3d scanner provides a detailed study of
where each piece of evidence originated
and where it ended up finally the bodies
are removed from the site and the
evidence is collected to send to the lab
experiments like this are really
important because not something that
people see on a daily basis but it’s
gonna happen we just don’t know when we
don’t know where so we need to be
prepared for it because when an incident
like this does happen the skills these
students are learning become the crucial
tools that can provide critical
real-time answers to both law
enforcement and victims families
[Music]
Oh
forensic science has become more urgent
and important than ever deaths related
to global terrorism have spiked and in
2015 alone more than 29,000 people were
killed as a result of terrorist attacks
the pervasive threat of mass casualty
terror attacks demands new innovations
in forensics especially when it comes to
how we investigate large-scale blast
sites samples of these can be taken and
sent for DNA analysis Kim Moran is an
instructor at arcadia university who
works with FBI agents police bomb squads
and forensic scientists and how to best
respond to the aftermath of a bombing
when a blast happens it’s so important
to be able to identify all the victims
that are involved so that we can return
those remains back to the family in
terms of personal effects people we’re
very kind of easily to distinguish
jewelry so this could really help
identify the individual debris from a
blast can also be used to identify the
perpetrator a crucial first step in
identifying any links to terror
organizations but before this evidence
gets to the lab it has to be collected
in the field and training for that is
where the challenges of living in a
radically new world lead to some radical
new solutions I’ve come to Pennsylvania
to shadow Kim as she takes students
through her unorthodox approach to
learning the intricacies of post blast
investigation we’re in a parking lot and
a group of students are dressing dead
animals up behind us what’s happening we
have a bus today where we’re setting a
charge and we have a number of
passengers on that vehicle we can’t use
human cadavers yes um and this is our
next best thing previously deceased
animals so these are the passengers
essentially zar the passengers you know
using a mannequin it’s just not going to
be affected by the blast in the same way
as an actual biological entity it’s
really important for first responders to
have really the full realistic
experience of going out to a post blast
investigation with the sights and the
smells and the sounds
would happen for a real incidents such
as the real the smells are very real yes
to mimic real-world evidence gathering
the students create a fake identity for
each animal this is Madison Kelly Wow
you literally put lipstick on a pig and
outfit them accordingly the personal
effects that we’re including will help
the responders positively identify the
individuals some of the stuff that would
deem a little absurd about what’s
happening behind us that’s actually
happening because you are trying as much
as possible to recreate exactly family
members are gonna see something happen
on television and they’re going to
wonder if their son or daughter husband
or wife was involved in any way what is
this a sheep she’s actually an expecting
mother oh I knew I hated this one okay
as the day swings into dear the students
load up the animals and put them in
place on the bus at the blast site a 3d
scanner is also on hand to map the site
before and after the blast captures a
million points a second as it scans and
is able to deliver a very quick summary
of what happened at that scene but
there’s no experiment without an
explosion enter the local bomb experts
who board the bus and set the explosive
device so on one hand we’re here at the
forefront of a pretty important
experiment in modern-day forensic
science on the other hand I’m standing
here in front of a school bus that’s
filled with dead farm animals dressed up
in human clothes and they’re about to be
blown to smithereens oh no final three
two one
you
to the untrained eye this is just pure
and total chaos the search team must
quickly sift through the rubble to mark
any evidence that can help identify the
animals on the bus like body parts or
personal effects no matter how small
from a cigarette but you could get a DNA
profile even a stray piece of plastic
could be a bomb fragment that may help
identify the killer I don’t know
anything on a bus that looks like this
as the investigators work the ground the
3d scanner provides a detailed study of
where each piece of evidence originated
and where it ended up finally the bodies
are removed from the site and the
evidence is collected to send to the lab
experiments like this are really
important because not something that
people see on a daily basis but it’s
gonna happen we just don’t know when we
don’t know where so we need to be
prepared for it because when an incident
like this does happen the skills these
students are learning become the crucial
tools that can provide critical
real-time answers to both law
enforcement and victims families
[Music]
Oh
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