It sounds like something from CSI or Law and Order: using a person’s hair to figure out where they’ve been. Researchers from the University of Utah have been analyzing water molecules from human hair samples — and using the information to determine where the person lived. The process isn’t always accurate, but it’s pretty close. Analyzing the makeup of water molecules determines the right region of origin around eighty-five percent of the time. This project was inspired by the 2001 anthrax attacks. Researchers wondered if microbes (like anthrax) might record the water environment that they came from. After that idea, … Continue reading →