Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 1 august 2018
DNA to X-ray: Military has variety of tools to ID remains

By MALCOLM RITTER Arizona, the new remains
AP Science Writer turned over by North Korea
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. have stirred hope.
military remains released Curran has no memory of
by North Korea on Friday her father, naval aviator Lt.
will be sent to a military lab Charles Garrison, who was
in Hawaii, where they'll en- shot down over Korea and
ter a system that routinely captured in May 1951. He
identifies service members died in captivity, and no
from decades-old conflicts. remains have been identi-
Identifications depend on fied.
combining multiple lines of Curran, 70, has spent de-
evidence, and they can cades working to give him
take time: Even after de- a proper burial. She's at-
cades, some cases remain tended scores of meetings
unresolved. for families of those missing
Dog tags found with the re- in action in Korea. She was
mains can help, and even the driving force in the late
scraps of clothing can be 1990s in getting several of
traced to the material used her family members — in-
in uniforms. Teeth can be cluding her sister, an aunt,
matched with dental re- an uncle and cousins — to
cords. Bones can be used A U.N. honor guard carries a casket containing remains believed to be from American join her in giving DNA sam-
to estimate height. And the servicemen killed during the 1950-53 Korean War after arriving from North Korea, at Osan Air ples to the military in an ef-
distinctive shape of a clavi- Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Friday, July 27, 2018. fort to identify her father's
cle bone can be matched Associated Press remains, should they be
to records of X-rays taken ily members since 1992, and to Hawaii. There, it's com- in person, out of 183 overall. found.Will their long wait
decades ago to look for has reached the relatives bined with the other lines of The agency identifies re- now come to an end?
tuberculosis, said Charles of 92 percent of the 8,100 evidence. mains from not only the "We know it's a small
Prichard, a spokesman for service members who were "We're just one spoke in a Korean War, but also World chance, but we can't help
the Defense POW/MIA Ac- listed as missing at the end wheel to make the identi- War II through the first Gulf but hope," she said, her
counting Agency. of the Korean War, McMa- fication," McMahon said. War in Iraq. voice breaking with emo-
If a DNA analysis is called hon said. "We all work together." How long does it take? tion. "It would be wonder-
for, samples are sent to a The goal is to find bits of Since Oct. 1, the Hawaii lab If a clavicle bone can be ful. It's too much to hope
military DNA lab at Dover DNA in common between has identified 25 service matched to an X-ray, it for.
Air Force Base in Delaware. the known relatives and members from the Korean might be done in just three "It's amazing, after all these
Tiny samples of bone or the unidentified remains, War, part of the 119 iden- days, Prichard said. But in years, how much it can still
teeth, no bigger than the suggesting both belong to tifications made overall in other cases, it can take hurt not to have him."
amount of bone in the a particular lineage. One that time period, Prichard decades. He noted some Margery Beck in Omaha,
last joint of the pinkie fin- analysis develops a pro- said. For the 12 months be- remains recovered from Nebraska, contributed to
ger, are enough to yield file that combines what's fore that, 42 sets of remains North Korea from 1990 to this report.
usable DNA, said Timothy found at 23 spots in the from the Korean War were 2005 are still awaiting iden- Follow Malcolm Ritter at @
McMahon, who oversees DNA, for example. accounted for, which in- tification. MalcolmRitter . q
the Dover lab as director of By analyzing different kinds cludes briefing the relatives For Jan Curran, of Gilbert,
Defense Department DNA of DNA, lab scientists can
Operations. look for markers passed Scientists: Surprisingly small
Each sample is sanded to down by generations of
remove surface contami- women, or of men, or of 'dead zone' off Louisiana
nation, ground to the con- both sexes. The lab once
sistency of baby powder, linked remains to a great-
and then treated with a great-great-great-grand- By JANET McCON- sissippi river. Mississippi River Nutrient/
substance that dissolves niece who initially had no NAUGHEY "Although the area is small Hypoxia Task Force, she
the bone and leaves the idea she was related to the Associated Press this year, we should not said.
DNA for analysis. That DNA missing service member, NEW ORLEANS (AP) — This think that the low-oxygen Each year's oxygen deple-
is then compared with ge- McMahon said. year's Gulf of Mexico "dead problem in the Gulf of tion begins as snowmelt,
netic samples from living Once a link is made, the zone" is surprisingly small, Mexico is solved. We are and followed by spring
people who are related to lab estimates how strongly but the oxygen-depleted not close to the goal size rains pouring from the Mis-
the missing. it suggests the remains be- water rose higher toward for this hypoxic area," said sissippi River into the gulf.
The military has been col- long to a particular person, the surface than usual, sci- lead scientist Nancy Rab- The newly deposited fresh
lecting DNA from such fam- and send the results back entists said Tuesday. alais of Louisiana State Uni- water is lighter than salt
Dead zones are areas in versity and the Louisiana water, causing two layers
which water at and above Universities Marine Consor- to develop.
the sea floor holds too little tium. Nitrogen and other nu-
oxygen to support marine The dead zone covers trients in the fresh water
life. This dead zone is the about 2,720 square miles feed a growth spurt of al-
fourth-smallest ever mea- (7,040 square kilometers), gae and microorganisms
sured in Louisiana, and is rising in some areas as at the top. The microor-
only about 40 percent the much as three-quarters ganisms die and fall to the
average size predicted of the way to the surface, bottom, where their decay
earlier this year based on she said. The sea-floor area consumes oxygen from the
nitrogen and other nutri- is about 50 percent larger bottom up.q
ents flowing down the Mis- than the goal set by the