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Dr. Michael Baden's Visit to The Bronx High School of Science
Diana Huang

     Dr. Baden, a very highly respected and renowned forensic pathologist spoke today to a very large crowd of students and faculty at The Bronx High School of Science. The room was packed with everyone anticipating what he was going to say. His presentation was informative, lively and thought provoking. His presentation included a great deal of facts and information and was very humorous. It was obvious that he enjoys his work and that he is very much dedicated to it.

     His presentation touched upon many forensic topics discussed in our forensic science classes such as: algor mortis, the temperature of death, livor mortis, the color of death and rigor mortis, the stiffness of death. He explained Locard's Cross-Exchange Principle, the idea that when two things (bodies or bodies and environments) come together each leaves part of itself on the other. This is one of the first principles we studied in Ms.Villani's Forensic Science classes this year. He explained about forensic DNA investigations and some of the physical evidence that can be obtained and analyzed from a body during standard autopsy procedures.

     The most important piece of information I took from Dr. Baden's presentation is that science is an ever- evolving field. Although the field of forensic science has come very far since its inception, there are still many new things to learn about and more precise techniques to be uncovered and applied to crime investigations. Perhaps in the future, one of the very students sitting in the audience during his presentation will be one to discover new information and or new techniques which will help the both forensic scientists and criminalists made the world a safer place to live in.