Today in the forensics class, the workshop students learned about blood. The students learned that there are six different types of blood - type A which includes AA and AO, type B which includes BB and BO, type O which includes OO, and type AB which includes AB. They also learned about the Rhesus Factor which determines whether it is positive or negative. If it is positive it contains RhD antigens; if it is negative it does not contain RhD antigens. After a brief introduction on blood types, the students tested a blood sample from a crime scene and the blood of two suspects. After numerous trials, the students drew conclusions from their results.
After break, the students learned about toxicology or the study of adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. Toxicology is the study of symptoms, mechanisms, treatments and detection of poisoning, especially the poisoning of people. They also learned that crime scene investigators use a technique called gas chromatography to analyze chemicals. Afterwards, the students used a Vensim model to predict the amount of poison concentration in a person at the time of their death.