6. Stephanie
Age 23
Light
Rebecca
Age 23
Heavy (only slightly!)
TWIN COMPARISON – BECAUSE TWO IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN
ONE!
None identical carbon twins –
Ratio only effected by
biodegradation
None identical Turnbull Twins –
Ratio only effected by
consumption post expedition
doesn’t count obviously!
Isotopic interlude – Let me take a few minutes of your time to outline the crazy world of forensics I live in and the wonder of isotopes.
So forensic science isn’t as sexy as CSI makes out. Unfortunately crime scenes are not full of beautiful women in Italian leather with a single pair of gloves on for protection. Parading over evidence whilst their long flowing blonde locks trail all over the crime scene.
The reality is a little more like this ……
So how does one go from fingerprint identification to the compound analysis of potential contamination in stream ? Well forensics is any form of science related to the law. So the scope is massive but I like to focus my attention onto environmental forensics. In theory there are less dead bodies, collection of bodily fluids and body parts to deal with.
You will all have heard of Exxon Valdez in the later 1980’s where 11,000,000 barrels of oil were spilled into the ocean in Alaska and Deep water horizon the gulf of Mexico in 2010, where 4.5 million barrels of oil were similarly spilt. But have you ever thought of how these massive oil spills are dealt with or how blame is associated to the responsible party? Well this is where I come in and outline to you, the wonder of isotopes.
So what is an isotope? An isotope is an atom of an element with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. This difference in neutrons effects the mass of an atom, which is turn effects the physical properties of that atom. In a molecule there are light isotopes and heavy isotopes. The light isotopes react more readily as they form bonds which are much easier to break. In contrast to heavy isotopes which form bonds that are much harder to break. We can study the ratio of stable isotopes to outline how the contaminant will react in the environment. My research focuses on a bottom up approach to finding methods which will resolve contamination.
Because I am pretty sure you don’t want to wake up to this every morning !
Outlining the isotopic ratio of a substance allows us to observe how it is broken down during the process you all know to be biodegradation. This process effects all contaminants. As microbes will naturally attack a contaminant to try and break it up over time. A microbe is mother natures version of a guilty pleasure. No matter how hard you try to resist you will always give in because everyone has a weakness right?
The sites these microbes attack are at specific locations and it works like a lock and a key. The microbe is the key that opens the lock that is keeping the contaminant together. Discovering how the microbe unlocks the molecule outlines how the contaminant can be broken down. Resolving the contamination by breaking it up into smaller or different pieces is called remediation.
The rate at which a molecule biodegrades is dependent on the isotopic ratio of that substance. The brilliant thing about isotopic ratios is that they are statistically only effected by biodegradation. Other physical occurrences like evaporation and dilution won’t have an effect. This becomes even more interesting, as the isotopic ratio is source specific. Allowing the ratio to be used as a fingerprinting tool to match a sample to a known source.
My research focuses on the physical analysis of stable carbon isotopes and specifically their position inside a molecule. The method we use zooms into a compound to outline the isotopic ratio. Ultimately allowing us to formulate a method which will aid in resolving the contamination found at a site of interest.
Providing environmental consultants everywhere with site specific solutions to vast contamination problems. Allowing us to preserve the world we live in…..
