THOUGHT you had got away with your career as a jewel thief? Think again. Fragments of DNA left at a crime scene can be analysed years later to free someone from a wrongful conviction or to identify a crook at large.
But in the US, there is hope for criminals 鈥� in the form of a deadline. The statute of limitations on prosecution means that forensic evidence can鈥檛 be used after 10 years.
For example, earlier this year, DNA from a man charged with a recent crime was matched to the DNA evidence from four women who had been raped more than 10 years ago. As no charges had been filed during that time, the man could not be prosecuted for those rapes.
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However, medical journal The Lancet reports that police in New York City reckon they may have found a way to avoid such situations in the future: charge the DNA itself before the 10 years elapses. That way, charges have been laid, so the case stays open even if no suspect has been found.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced funding for this stop-the-clock project in August. By filing charges against the genetic code of unapprehended offenders, he hopes that 600 cases from 1994 can escape the cut-off date and be activated if police come across someone with matching DNA.
But how, you may ask, do you lay charges against a genetic fragment? The answer draws on an old American legal convention 鈥� you give the fragment the traditional name for a person or persons unknown 鈥� John Doe.
NEWSPAPERS around the world have been full of the story about the tiger rescued from an apartment in Harlem, treating it as a combination of a 鈥渃an you believe it?鈥� and a cute pet tale. But it involves a not-so-cute irony. According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, based at the Bronx Zoo and not too many subway stops from that apartment, there are some 10,000 tigers living as pets in the US 鈥� compared with somewhere between 5000 and 7000 living in the wild in the whole of Asia.
AT THE UK鈥檚 annual hi-fi show, held recently in two hotels at London鈥檚 Heathrow airport, several exhibitors were selling exotic cables to connect amplifiers to loudspeakers. The price of these cables was staggering. A 6-metre length of oxygen-free copper could cost as much as 拢30,000 鈥� and no, those four zeros are not a misprint.
We cannot comment on whether these cables really do make music sound better, because none of the exhibitors offered a controlled blind test 鈥� switching the same music between cheap and expensive cables without the listener knowing which was which.
But now that the show is over, we can reveal a secret.
One of the most popular demonstrations at the show was staged by British company Quad, to mark 50 years of making its world-famous hi-fi equipment. Recording engineer Tony Faulkner demonstrated Quad鈥檚 latest loudspeakers. He explained how he used them to monitor the sound while making a recording of Saint-Sa毛ns鈥檚 complete works for piano and orchestra, which recently won the coveted Record of the Year award from Gramophone magazine.
As hi-fi buffs enthused over the sound, we spotted that the speakers were connected by some orange wires that looked strangely familiar.
鈥淵es, they would look familiar if you have a garden鈥�, Faulkner told us. 鈥淏efore the show opened we went over the road to the DIY superstore and bought one of those 拢20 extension leads that Black & Decker sells for electric hedge-cutters. They are made from good, thick copper wire, look nice and sound good to me. The show鈥檚 been running for three days and no one in the audience has noticed鈥�.
ARE penguins fond of reading books? Reader John Gray ordered a book from Blackwell鈥檚 online, and was asked to click on his country of abode in a drop-down box. Among the options he could choose was Bouvet Island.
Bouvet Island, situated in the South Atlantic, belongs to Norway. 鈥淚 have actually been there during a Norwegian Antarctic expedition in 1978,鈥� Gray tells us. 鈥淚t is small, only a couple of kilometres long. It is rocky, with very steep cliffs, it is snow and ice-capped, and it is the most remote island in the world. The only inhabitants are penguins and seals.鈥�
So who taught them to read, we wonder?
FINALLY, this month鈥檚 Macworld magazine includes guidelines on submitting tips on Apple computing. They tell readers: 鈥淪end your tips to qandamacworld.co.uk. We cannot make personal replies, so please do not include a stamped addressed envelope.鈥�
Reader Colin Deady, who spotted this, says it is lucky they told him. He had one in his scanner ready to go.
More from the department of indeterminate numbers. Reader Ann Franklin tells us that when she was moving house, the removal firm packed up her belongings in cartons made from 鈥渁t least 100 per cent recycled paper鈥�