Not Quite Getting Away With Murder

DNA evidence can be faked, report researchers from an Israeli company in Forensic Science International: Genetics. One method used whole genome amplification of a sample of blood or saliva and the other pieced together common DNA variants to match a profile already stored in a law enforcement database. The researchers say that anyone with some equipment and a biology background can "produce practically unlimited amounts of in vitro synthesized (artificial) DNA with any desired genetic profile." Lead author and company founder Dan Frumkin tells the New York Times that "any biology undergraduate could perform this." His company, Nucleix, has developed a test to tell real DNA from artificial DNA, based on its methylation state.