The New Age of DNA Investigation: A Conversation with Edward Humes

Think of all the true crime stories you’ve watched or read. The image of a dogged or even sometimes fumbling detective usually lies at the center. But today, like almost everything else, technology has changed that.

Since the mid-80s, DNA technology has begun to transform the search for both guilt and innocence. Suddenly cold cases, like the Golden State Killer, are solvable, dozens and dozens of years later.

DNA databases are growing, as are privacy fears about their misuse. Dedicated cold case detectives, both professional and amateur, are evolving into a new profession.

The idea of no statutes of limitations on murder has always been a fundamental tenant of our criminal justice system. But now, with DNA’s ability to solve so many other types of crimes, will the system change?…Will the long arm of justice be forever.

That is what Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes examines in his new book THE FOREVER WITNESS.

My conversation with Ed Humes:

The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation

We throw around the word globalization without really thinking about all of its impacts. The instant and free flow of goods around the corner and around the world comes with a cost. The iPhone delivered overnight from China, the speciality coffee from around the world, the stores filled with goods from hundreds of countries.

Rarely do we stop to think how all of this gets to us. Sure we see or even complain about all the trucks on the road. But that’s only the end of the journey, sometimes the last mile. Many of items of daily life travel hundreds of thousands of miles to reach us. Think about all those container ships at every major port in the world.

Beyond this, the story of traffic and of our cars, only compounds the problem. What successful community is not dealing with the scourge of traffic?

That’s the hidden story that Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ed Humes tells in his new book Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation.

My conversation with Ed Humes: