Technology never fails to amaze me. British scientists have indicated that police could one day predict the surname of a male suspect or victim of a crime through their DNA. This is because men with the same surname are highly likely to be genetically linked. The more unusual the surname, the more likely the police will be able to predict the surname.
This information would also help in genealogy and health studies.
Tis true. I fully intend to, I was just being melodramatic
While the theory is awesome, I wonder how well it'll perform in practice. For something like that, a point of reference is needed, and it'd only *really* work on male sides, because in marriage, the woman takes the mans name, even though she has not necessarially got any similar DNA to him or his side of the extended family.
Don't worry, I figured you were being melodramatic.
From what I understand, Dr King's study only looked at the male Y chromosome. Therefore, even if a woman takes on the husband's surname, it doesn't really matter, as they are only looking at the genetic material passed between father and son. So it looks like the surname of a woman suspect might be a little harder to predict.
Now, what'd be really cool would be if they could predict the whole name and location of those people
Heh. Not going to happen though. It'd save a lot of people a lot of work..
