Do you want to know how to take the piss out of every TV detective series you’ve ever seen? Then you need to take a few tips from this lady – helping solve crimes by examining pollen and fungi. Rad lady!
Photo Credit: Unsplash
No, this is not yet another episode of Bones or CSI: Miami – this is pure forensic swag by Patricia Wiltshire, a retired forensic ecologist from the UK. From being a professor of environmental ecology, through one phone call and then devoting her life to forensic ecology to help solve high-profile criminal cases, she’s come a long way.
“Your movements can be tracked by more than cameras“
This is a sentence fragment from Wiltshire’s memoirs, Traces, where she explains how nature when we walk through it, leaves traces all over our clothes and body. Earth on our shoes, little twigs that get caught in our hair, pollen… Everything is a clue.
Photo Credit: Patricia Wiltshire/Positive News
This rad lady got into the world of solving crimes rather late in her career, in her 50s. In her interview at Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald, she shared some interesting stories but also revealed how solving crimes isn’t as nearly as glamorous and exciting as it is portrayed in a TV series. She said what she did was ‘tedious, hard, smelly, disgusting and the only satisfying part is when you get the patterns at the end of your analysis and you think, “Gosh, I can see it, I can see it.”‘
Nevertheless, she helped solve some of the most high-profile crimes in history and put some notorious criminals behind bars. She shared a story where she helped solve an abduction and murder case involving the Chinese Triade, getting clues from pollen in the field!
We recommend you check out the full interview (source: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/august-15-2020-quirks-quarks-annual-book-show-1.5397535/tales-of-a-forensic-ecologist-tracking-criminals-with-pollen-and-spores-1.5397537 ) with genius, yet humble Mrs. Wiltshire. Do we have a candidate for Radass of the year, fam? What do you think? Give us a piece of your mind!
WTR?
It’s always fun to take note of people who are intriguing and overly interesting for one reason or another. You never know who’s out there and what they can do until you really look and pay attention.
