With the assistance of an advisor from Rockefeller University and the lab at the American Museum of Natural History, Trinity School students Brenda Tan (17) and Matt Cost (18) conducted an experiment called "DNAHouse" designed to identify what they were surrounded by, living with and eating in New York. They bagged and tagged 266 samples collected outside and inside their Manhattan and Brooklyn homes, plus grocery store items.
Some samples confirmed the obvious: Pigeon feathers and horse poop in Central Park were authentic. They identified the species of the snake that shed its skin there, too.
Others were surprising: The fly that hitched a ride along with Texas grapefruit was an Asian latrine fly, which doesn't mean Asians' poop smells like citrus. And DNA tests on a cockroach revealed their sample came from a previously undiscovered subspecies!
But the most disturbing findings came right off the grocery shelves:
Food Labels Lie!
The students found widespread fraud in everything from caviar to pet treats. Of 66 items they tested containing meat, fish or dairy, 11 weren't what they said they were... 1 in 6 had labeled contents replaced by cheaper, more widely available ingredients. And that's just what they were able to identify... Regardless of their remaining nutritional value, only 1 in 5 canned goods contain recognizable DNA.
Read more at MSNBC or Rockefeller University.
Earthquake, tsunami,
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