Machines vs. Professionals: Recognizing Suicide Notes

Even machines are better than mental health professionals at spotting fake suicide notes, is one possible interpretation of a study by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Windsor, Canada. Other interpretations are possible, too. The study is: “Suicide Note Classification Using Natural Language Processing: A Content Analysis,” John Pestian [pictured here], Henry Nasrallah, […]

DNA Faking for Criminals and Murder Novelists

Master criminals and murder novelists, many of whom felt hemmed in by technical limitations, can feel relieved by the news of new DNA technology: “Authentication of forensic DNA samples,” Dan Frumkin, Adam Wasserstrom, Ariane Davidson and Arnon Grafit, Forensic Science International Genetics, Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 95-103 (February 2010). (Thanks to Ed Yong for […]