Discussion on:

7
Comments

Join the conversation!

Follow via:
RSS
+1 Vote
+ -
Your spit reveals your age, scientists say
The closer the examination the more, complex connections can be seen. I suspect DNA in all its expressions is linked to nearly every aspect of our lives and being. We are still so near the beginning of understanding ourselves. Even the notion of chronological age can be more closely considered. Is a 60 year old really 60 years old? What's there in that body that is 60 years old, the hair, fingernails, skin, bones? Nope, all that is replaced over and over again. Some things daily (red blood cells) some monthly, some yearly, some every few decades. From the show "The Body in Numbers", the best current estimate for an average overall age is 15.5 years.

This notion of an overall average age of the physical body impacts the notion of a bio-age as well. Seems to me a bio-age is meaningful only in relationship to lifespan and actual physical body age and as lifespan grow longer what it means to be biologically 50 years old shifts as well.

The expression "Your age" really needs more qualification to be any more then a very general marking. It seems to function as a real ink blot for reading in whatever you wish!
Posted by Bernard Shanfield
23rd Jun 2011
0 Votes
+ -
Age determination
I see nothing remarkable about getting within 5 years of a persons age. Most law enforcement and paramedic personnel can get closer, 9 out of 10 times.
Posted by 16Tons
23rd Jun 2011
0 Votes
+ -
Age Determination - CSI
By looking at a person, yes.

However for fans of CSI etc, you could possibly determine approximate age of a perpetrator from saliva on a glass etc
Posted by t-mc-c
24th Jun 2011
0 Votes
+ -
Spit?
Ptoooey!
Posted by dangnad
23rd Jun 2011
0 Votes
+ -
Ounces?
Really, 0.1 ounces? The scientists did their work in the caveman measuring system that we use here in the US rather than using metric? Does the author even have a concept of what she's writing about when dazzling us with "as little as 0.1 ounces of saliva?" Just to put it into a proper perspective, I assume it's 0.1 FLUID ounces, which is 3 mL. One teaspoon of liquid is defined as 5 mL. So in forensic terms, almost a teaspoon full of saliva is "little?" Unless you're drooling, you won't leave 3 mL of saliva anywhere, not even with a bite. Microarrays which were used in this study are a highly sensitive methodology, so Ms. Shin should recheck her figures. I like SmartPlanet, but this is yet another reason why metric system should be used on this site either exclusively or in conjunction with US customary measurements. Translating between two measurement systems, neither of which one's familiar with, leads to errors like these.
Posted by rkocz@...
24th Jun 2011
0 Votes
+ -
Post corrected
Hi Rkocz,

Thanks for the correction. You are right that that is half a teaspoon. I've corrected the original post.

Dr. Vilain says that when he conducted the research, he did not intend for it to be used in a "CSI" setting, so he did not think to determine the smallest amount of saliva necessary to determine age. However, he did say, "I see no theoretical reason for why we couldn't do this on traces of saliva. But that remains to be verified experimentally."

And by the way, he did not conduct his research in the U.S. system; he used the metric system as you guessed.

Thanks again.
Laura
Posted by laurashin
Updated - 25th Jun 2011
0 Votes
+ -
Thank you very much
Well done! Thank you very much for professional templates and community edition
sesli chat sesli sohbet
Posted by yarinsiz
Updated - 26th Aug 2011
Join the conversation
Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

Join the SmartPlanet community and join the conversation! Signing up is fast and free. Don't wait -- we want to hear your opinion!