Egypt's amazing DNA scientists
Issandr El Amrani;)
Forget everything you heard from the Arab Human Development Reports and Ahmed Zuwail about Egypt's scientific research and development lagging behind. The country actually has the most advanced bio-geneticists in the world, being able to retrieve all sorts of information from a DNA sample:
Security sources: DNA reveals bomber was from Egypt’s Delta region
Authorities have announced that a body found at the scene of the Two Saints Church attack is suspected to be that of the suicide bomber.
According to DNA tests performed on the body, the bomber is suspected to be from Egypt’s Delta region, north of Cairo. Officials say that investigation results show he was a university graduate with no permanent job, who left his family home about one year ago.
Officials also say that investigations are still undergoing in order to confirm these finding and to track down the suspect’s family members for further interrogations.
This new information refutes previous statements by the government, which claimed that the bomber was of Afghan origin.
Wow. Just wow. Egypt has done such a great job at genome sequencing it can determine Delta genes, as opposed to Saidi ones. And it has the amazing ability of determining employment status, university enrollment and all sorts of other info.
All joking aside, this piece is a prime example of why basic scientific literacy is necessary in journalism. Still, I'd like to know how exactly DNA sampling helped find this suspect — if at all.
Reader Comments (5)
This is possible if the security forces have a bank of DNA samples and the bomber's DNA was in it. Just like thumb prints bank.
Haha, thanks, I needed the laugh.
I think it's bad writing skills from the journalist rather than the police who should be faulted here: sounds to me like the DNA testing resulted in the identification of the deceased suspect, and that the resulting personal info is presented as resulting from the DNA testing and not from the identification...
Yes sure, and as ja mentioned before, the initial DNA identification would not have been possible unless they had his record in a DNA bank, which would determine his National ID number, from that they can determine if he's from upper or lower Egypt etc. Further investigation would reveal what he had for lunch. But all that is dependent on having his DNA on record, which is very doubtful. In fact I doubt very much the existence of such records to begin with.
I only said that it is technically possible (and such banks exist in western countries). Whether such bank exist in Egypt is another question.