2011 ~ ROCKING PLANET

Friday, December 30, 2011

NIST Helps Close Electronic Nooks To Computer-Using Crooks

12:14 AM

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Classic bits of evidence collected by police at a crime scene include the smoking gun, fingerprints and lipstick on a glass. However, today’s investigators often must search beyond the obvious for the missing piece that will solve the puzzle—like within a computer’s hard drive.

Forensic science specialists invited to the National Institute of Standards and Technology recently completed a guide for law enforcement officers titled Electronic Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for First Responders. The booklet provides investigators who regularly are the first to arrive at a crime scene (known as “first responders”) with an overview of what kinds of electronic evidence may be available to them in devices ranging from large computers to pagers.

When people began using computers to directly commit criminal offenses—such as online fraud and hacking—specialized police groups were trained to evaluate a crime scene and preserve electronic evidence. However, the ever increasing involvement of computers in other crimes (for example, a stalker sending harassing e-mails or an illegal business storing data in a spreadsheet program) means that this expertise no longer can be limited to select teams. Therefore, NIST’s Office of Law Enforcement Standards—with sponsorship by the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice—produced the new electronic crime scene guide.

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Cyber Forensic Researchers Make The Call: Crime Scene Evidence Is Quickly Extracted From Mobile Phones

11:50 PM

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Cyber forensic researchers designed a device to extract the memory of a mobile phone for crime scene evidence. The phone's memory card is placed in the device where computer software extracts and decodes the information--revealing call history, text messages, emails, images, video and the calendar. This information is then used by police as evidence in crimes.

A good fingerprint at a crime scene isn't always the smoking gun for solving crimes. Thanks to new technology, crime solving is going digital.

Ernest Brice had plans to rent out his house, but it became a target for burglars instead. Thieves stole almost everything inside.

"I feel victimized," said Brice.

Brice's crime was never solved, but police say digital evidence left behind from cell phones, computers or PDAs can be found at nearly every crime scene.

"A lot of times, it's evidence that will take you to your next step in the investigative lead, so it will tell us who this person has been in touch with or who they've been emailing or texting," said Richard Mislan, Ph.D., a cyber-forensic researcher at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

To help dig up digital evidence and catch criminals, cyber-forensic researchers use a device called a flasher box. It finds clues hiding in cell phones.

"A flasher box is used for extracting a full memory from a mobile phone," Dr. Mislan said.

A phone's memory card is removed and plugged into a flasher box. Computer software extracts the phone's coded information and decodes the information to reveal the phone's call history, text messages, e-mails, calendar, images and videos. This information is then used by cops as clues to solve crimes.

"It's an inside look into that person, much more than just a fingerprint," Dr. Mislan said.

The technology also helps victims of serious crimes by finding clues from computers to show who last contacted the victim and last visited Web sites or e-mails.

"It's a way of helping us find the perpetrator or the suspect and taking us to that next step," Dr. Mislan said. Solving crimes isn't easy. Just ask Brice -- but now, technology may help cops get one step ahead of the bad guys. Researchers are now developing a first-responder digital evidence collection kit to gather evidence immediately at the scene of a crime.

WHAT IS CYBER FORENSICS? The subset of forensic science concerned with interpreting evidence contained in computers and digital media is called cyber forensics. The field is concerned with issues such as recovering lost data, and revealing and decrypting data hidden on a suspect's computer. In addition to computers, cyber forensics specialists can also recover information from cellular phones, mp3 players, CDs, DVDs and more. Approximately 80 to 90 percent of legal cases today involve some sort of digital evidence.

WHAT'S A FLASHER BOX? A flasher box is a device that transfers data from a cell phone to a computer, where people unfamiliar with the device in question can examine files for evidence. With one of these devices, non-experts are able to check for clues that may help them solve cases, even if they have never before seen a similar device.

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How the Brain Cell Works: A Dive Into Its Inner Network

11:23 PM

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(Dec. 21, 2011) — University of Miami (UM) biology professor Akira Chiba is leading a multidisciplinary team to develop the first systematic survey of protein interactions within brain cells. The team is aiming to reconstruct genome-wide in situprotein-protein interaction networks (isPIN) within the neurons of a multicellular organism. Preliminary data were presented at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting, December 3 through 7, 2011, in Denver, Colorado.

This work brings us closer to understanding the mechanics of molecules that keep us functioning," says Chiba, principal investigator of this project. "Knowing how our cells work will improve medicine. Most importantly, we will gain a better understanding of what life is at the molecular level."

Neurons are the cells that are mainly responsible for signaling in the brain. Like all other cells, each neuron produces millions of individual proteins that associate with one another and form a complex communication network. Until recently, observing these protein-protein interactions had not been

possible due to technical difficulties. Individual proteins are small and typically less than 10 nm (nanometer) in diameter. Yet, this nano-scale distance was considered to be off-limits even with super-resolution microscopy.Now, Chiba and his collaborators have developed a novel methodology to examine interaction of individual proteins in the fruit fly -- the model organism of choice for this project. The researchers are creating genetically engineered insects that are capable of expressing over 500 fluorescently-tagged assorted proteins, two at a time. The fluorescent tags make it possible to visualize the exact spot where a given pair of proteins associates with each other.

The team utilizes a custom- built 3D FLIM (fluorescent lifetime imaging microscopy) system to quantify this association event within the cells of a live animal. FLIM shows the location and time of such protein interaction, providing the data that allow creation of a point-by-point map of protein-protein interactions.

The pilot phase of this multidisciplinary project is being funded by the National Institutes of Health. It employs advanced genetics, molecular imaging technology and high-performance computation, among other fields. "Collaborating fluorescent chemistry, laser optics and artificial intelligence, my team is working in the 'jungle' of the molecules of life within the living cells," Chiba says. "This is a new kind of ecology played out at the scale of nanometers -- creating a sense of deja vu 80 years after the birth of modern ecology."

At present, the researchers still need to extrapolate from data obtained in test tubes. In the future, they will begin to visualize directly how the individual proteins interact with one another in their 'native environment,' which are the cells in our body

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Monday, December 12, 2011

6:08 PM

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A new study from The Australian National University shows that online therapy programs can play a major and long-lasting role in treating depression.

Dr Lou Farrer, from the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR), trialled the effectiveness of online programs MoodGYM and BluePages when used in conjunction with telephone counselling services provided by Lifeline.

Dr Farrer said there was an immediate drop in symptoms of depression among callers to Lifeline who used the two programs.

“We worked with Lifeline centres in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. Lifeline counsellors in these centres identified callers who seemed to be experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety,” said Dr Farrer.

“We then split these callers up into groups. Some were asked to complete MoodGYM and BluePages on their own; others were given these programs as well as weekly phone calls to see how they were progressing. Another group received weekly phone calls without using the online programs and the final group received the usual Lifeline service.

“What we found was that the groups who had used MoodGYM and BluePages had a significant, immediate drop in symptoms of depression. Surprisingly the difference between the groups who completed the programs with and without the weekly phone calls was minor. This was surprising as we expected that the programs might be more effective for those who received the weekly phone calls,” she said.

Dr Farrer also said that the online therapy programs had a long-lasting impact on depression symptoms.

“What is really exciting is that we found that for people who used the online programs their depressive symptoms stayed reduced for at least six months after the intervention was finished. So, the online programs not only had short term effects, but the effects lasted.

“The study further supports the usefulness of these programs. Online treatment programs are not only inexpensive and readily accessible; they are also effective. Hopefully, they will continue to have a bigger role in the future.

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