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Also great for surveillance of human mammals, especially for knowing which ones frequent which areas. That is assuming you already have their DNA for comparison

by krunck 3y ago

Also great for surveillance of human mammals, especially for knowing which ones frequent which areas. That is assuming you already have their DNA for comparison. Or no? Would this work?

bglazer 3y ago
Probably not, DNA degrades relatively quickly in uncontrolled conditions, so the unique markers of an individual human would probably be hard to grab from a dust particle suspended on a spider web. This works for detecting different species, not necessarily individuals. Plus, there are infinitely easier ways of surveilling humans, like just watching where their GPS tracked phones go.
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  There are also easier ways of tracking humans via DNA - we're literally shedding genetic material with every step, on everything we touch. Skin flakes here, saliva there, etc.
  - kjkjadksj 3y ago
    And all of that is dispersed in the air that you could theoretically collect and sample in your hvac system.
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      So I guess the cyberpunk equivalent of TFA: disassembling a router, wireless phone charger, or any of the countless devices equipped with a tiny cooling fan, that increasingly live among us in our homes and offices, in order to sample DNA from the dust that accumulates on the fan blades. (To add a little insult to injury: pull it off an air quality monitor. Those PM sensors have a neat, tiny, dust-moving fan.)
- verisimi 3y ago
  > DNA degrades relatively quickly in uncontrolled conditions Alternatively, it hangs around for millions of years. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/december/worlds-oldest-dna-represents-two-million-year-old-ecosystem.html https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/december/worlds-old...
kjkjadksj 3y ago
Yes it works for mammals too. It works with just a vacuum even outdoors. https://www.science.org/content/article/dna-pulled-thin-air-identifies-nearby-animals https://www.science.org/content/article/dna-pulled-thin-air-...
a_bonobo 3y ago
there's a cool preprint from a few weeks ago where they sequenced a collection of 34 years worth of air-filters in Sweden: lots of mammals! eDNA, just from air. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.06.569882v1 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.06.569882v1 Up to ~35% of the detected DNA was human (Fig S5)

by krunck 3y ago

Also great for surveillance of human mammals, especially for knowing which ones frequent which areas. That is assuming you already have their DNA for comparison. Or no? Would this work?

bglazer 3y ago

Probably not, DNA degrades relatively quickly in uncontrolled conditions, so the unique markers of an individual human would probably be hard to grab from a dust particle suspended on a spider web. This works for detecting different species, not necessarily individuals. Plus, there are infinitely easier ways of surveilling humans, like just watching where their GPS tracked phones go.

TeMPOraL 3y ago
There are also easier ways of tracking humans via DNA - we're literally shedding genetic material with every step, on everything we touch. Skin flakes here, saliva there, etc.
- kjkjadksj 3y ago
  And all of that is dispersed in the air that you could theoretically collect and sample in your hvac system.
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    So I guess the cyberpunk equivalent of TFA: disassembling a router, wireless phone charger, or any of the countless devices equipped with a tiny cooling fan, that increasingly live among us in our homes and offices, in order to sample DNA from the dust that accumulates on the fan blades. (To add a little insult to injury: pull it off an air quality monitor. Those PM sensors have a neat, tiny, dust-moving fan.)
verisimi 3y ago
> DNA degrades relatively quickly in uncontrolled conditions Alternatively, it hangs around for millions of years. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/december/worlds-oldest-dna-represents-two-million-year-old-ecosystem.html https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/december/worlds-old...

kjkjadksj 3y ago

Yes it works for mammals too. It works with just a vacuum even outdoors. https://www.science.org/content/article/dna-pulled-thin-air-identifies-nearby-animals https://www.science.org/content/article/dna-pulled-thin-air-...

a_bonobo 3y ago

there's a cool preprint from a few weeks ago where they sequenced a collection of 34 years worth of air-filters in Sweden: lots of mammals! eDNA, just from air. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.06.569882v1 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.06.569882v1 Up to ~35% of the detected DNA was human (Fig S5)