The Week 42 Forensic Science Geek of the Week Challenge

Our good friend, Ron Moore, Esquire writes us “I actually had a client researching lawyers who looked at the Truth About Forensic Science geek of the week posts and liked my answers. It made a difference in who he decided to hire. Thanks!” So, there is a lot of value in www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week Challenge. Try it out today.

Forensic Science Geek of the Week

: Forensic Science Geek of the Week

Thanks to the combined inspiration of Christine Funk, Esquire and Chuck Ramsay, Esquire, a new twist of this blog is being introduced. A weekly fun forensic science challenge/trivia question. The winner will be affectionately dubbed “www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week.”

Rules:

The challenge will be posted Sunday morning 12 noon EST.
Answers to the challenge will be entered by responding to this blog post or the www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com FaceBook fan page.
All comments that are answers to this blog will released after 9pm EST.
The first complete and correct answer will be awarded the envious title of “www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week”
“www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week” is entitled a one time post of his/her picture on this blog and the www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com FaceBook fan page. The coveted title will be his/her for that week. Additionally, a winner will be allowed one link to one webpage of his/her choice. Both the picture and the weblink is subject to the approval of Justin J McShane, Esquire and will only be screened for appropriate taste.
The winner will be announced Sunday night.
A winner may only repeat two times in a row, then will have to sit out a week to be eligible again. This person, who was the two time in a row winner, may answer the question, but will be disqualified from the honor so as to allow others to participate.
This is for learning and for fun. EVERYONE IS ENCOURAGED TO TRY TO ANSWER THE WEEKLY QUESTION. So give it a shot.

Here it is:

The www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com “Forensic Science Geek of the Week” challenge question. Remember the first full and complete answer wins the honor and also gets his/her photo displayed, bragging rights for the week and finally website promotion.

OFFICIAL QUESTION:

1. What is this device? (that should be very easy)

2. What is it used for?

3. Where is it typically deployed?

4. What are the limitations to this assay?

The Hall of Fame for the www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week:
Week 1: Chuck Ramsay, Esquire

Week 2: Rick McIndoe, PhD

Week 3: Christine Funk, Esquire

Week 4: Stephen Daniels

Week 5: Stephen Daniels

Week 6: Richard Middlebrook, Esquire

Week 7: Christine Funk, Esquire

Week 8: Ron Moore, B.S., J.D.

Week 9: Ron Moore, B.S., J.D.

Week 10: Kelly Case, Esquire and Michael Dye, Esquire

Week 11: Brian Manchester, Esquire

Week 12: Ron Moore, B.S., J.D.

Week 13: Ron Moore, B.S., J.D.

Week 14: Josh Lee, Esquire

Week 15: Joshua Dale, Esquire and Steven W. Hernandez, Esquire

Week 16: Christine Funk, Esquire

Week 17: Joshua Dale, Esquire

Week 18: Glen Neeley, Esquire

Week 19: Amanda Bynum, Esquire

Week 20: Josh Lee, Esquire

Week 21: Glen Neeley, Esquire

Week 22: Stephen Daniels

Week 23: Ron Moore, B.S., J.D.

Week 24: Bobby Spinks

Week 25: Jon Woolsey, Esquire

Week 26: Mehul B. Anjaria

Week 27: Richard Middlebrook, Esquire

WEEK 28: Ron Moore, Esquire

Week 29: Ron Moore, Esquire

Week 30: C. Jeffrey Sifers, Esquire

Week 31: Ron Moore, Esquire

Week 32: Mehul B. Anjaria

Week 33: Andy Johnston

Week 34: Ralph R. Ristenbatt, III

Week 35: Brian Manchester, Esquire

Week 36: Ron Moore, Esquire

WEEK 37: UNCLAIMED, IT COULD BE YOU!

Week 38: Pam King, Esquire

Week 39: Josh Lee, Esquire

WEEK 40: UNCLAIMED, IT COULD BE YOU!

WEEK 41: UNCLAIMED, IT COULD BE YOU!

WEEK 42: IT COULD BE YOU!

3 Responses to “The Week 42 Forensic Science Geek of the Week Challenge”

Brian Manchester says:

April 17, 2011 at 11:44 am

According to the manufacturer “[t]he IonScan 400B is a highly sensitive, analytical instrument that uses Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) technology to detect and accurately identify trace residues of a wide variety of narcotic and explosive substances.” How this machine works is someone takes a swab and clamps it onto the end of a plastic wand and then rubs the swab over whatever they want tested. Then the swab is removed and placed into the machine where the machine runs the scan on the swab.

The machine is typically used by jails, homeland security, and police to detect for drugs and explosives. The general public mostly encounters them at the airport as this is the machine that they use to detect for bombs in your luggage. Lawyers run into them often in jails when we visit our clients to see if we are sneaking in drugs to them.

The limitations are they are not very specific and anything that has a spectral renage similar to drugs or different types of explosives will set them off and they can’t tell if drugs or explosives are present or if the item or person merely came into contact with the searched for items sometime in the past.