Bone Detective The Story of Forensic Anthropologist Diane France (2006) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Chapter 1: Diane France's Brain
Chapter 1: Diane France's Brain
Pages 1-12
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 2... ...
Meanwhile, the skulls of eight Civil War soldiers line the shelves of her Colorado lab. Diane is thrilled, most of all, when she uses her science know-how to help people struck by disaster.
|
From page 3... ...
This small-town girl let science lead the way to a world of adventure.
|
From page 4... ...
She is teaching participants how to tell the life story of a dead person by examining the skeleton in fine detail. After the class she plans to drop off her bone specimens and pick up her brain at the AFIP's museum, the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM)
|
From page 5... ...
Forensic anthropologists are physical anthropologists who examine human remains that are part of an investigation -- a murder, an accident, or a disaster, for example.
|
From page 6... ...
So far she has rounded treatments from Civil War times up a nut-sized squirrel brain, an orangutan brain the size of a to the present. large fist, and a fin whale brain the size of a basketball.
|
From page 7... ...
She opens the door to a sky dumping buckets of rain. She is seriously dressed up in a pink silk blouse, black suit jacket, matching black slacks, high heels, dangling earrings, and a long gold necklace.
|
From page 8... ...
Bucket firmly in hand, high heels balanced, Diane walks out the door of the small specimen room. She goes around the bend, past some filing cabinets and shelves, down a long, narrow passageway, a turn to the left, and, the tricky part: a onehanded push through a brass-and-glass door.
|
From page 9... ...
BONE Tom has opened the back door so that she can slide right in. She plops down on the smooth leather seat and, in the blink of an eye, the unthinkable happens: The plastic bucket flexes in her hands, the lid pops off, and the brain splashes out on her lap.
|
From page 10... ...
She'll have to hold them. She pinches the waistline tight in her fist and walks awkwardly out of The plastic bucket flexes in her hands, the ladies' room, still in her the lid pops off, and the brain splashes out high heels.
|
From page 11... ...
The next day Diane carries the brain to the Smithsonian on the BONE Metro train without mishap, though she has no trouble imagining a spill -- kerplunk, kerplunk, kerplunk -- on the long escalator ride down to the subway. As the Smithsonian curators hand over their squirrel, orangutan, and fin whale brains, they mention they're worried about damage, especially to the whale brain.
|
From page 12... ...
It's just a drop in the bucket compared to her many other "great moments" in science, but the memory will always make her chuckle. Humor helps lighten the darker side of her life as a forensic anthropologist, as she analyzes human remains that are evidence in an investigation -- murder victims, for instance.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.