Science Observer
A Different Kind of CSi: Crime and
Stable isotopes
Can two samples be chemically identical, yet not the same?
Juries need to know
A jar of exotic honey, a bottle of olive oil,
a dish of delicately flavored sea bass—
most people would probably consider
these objects out of place in a lab or a
courtroom. To a certain kind of analyti-
cal chemist, though, they invite forensic
investigation. Well-informed consumers
often scan the labels on the food they
buy to determine its ingredients and ori-
gin, but the stable-isotope analyst takes
the investigation much further: all the
way to the mass spectrometer.
This is not a matter of mere inquisi-
tiveness. From time to time, both civu
and criminal courts have to contend
with cases of fraud in food and other
substances: synthetic vanilla flavoring
sold as the natural extract, real maple
syrup cut with molasses, ersatz sham-
poo marketed as a well-known brand.
Sometimes it's not the identity of the
product but the source that is misrep-
resented: Was this wood logged legal-
ly, or was it poached fiom a protected
area? How can I be sure this honey is
the rare treat made from the nectar of
the sourwood tree, which blooms only
when the circumstances are just right,
rather than an ordinary table honey
with an expensive-looking label? If a
shipment of lumber is seized by agents
of the Department of Agriculture, or
if a disgrunfled beekeeper brings suit
against a commercial food manufac-
turer for false advertising, the charges
can lead to a trial, with a stable-isotope
analyst called to give evidence.
"Food authenticity" was the focus of
a colloquium held recently in the histor-
ic university town of Leipzig, Germany.
The session formed part of a meeting
that brought together more than 250
stable-isotope analysts from two dozen
countries to discuss the ever-increas-
ing applications of their field. In many
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the two plants' differing approaches to
photosynthesis. Sugar beets get their
carbon fix by means of the so-called
Calvin-Benson cycle, which leaves the
plant with relatively few carbon-13
atoms amidst an abundance of car-
bon-12. Sugarcane, which grows in
more adverse conditions, carries out a
more complex pathway of photosyn-
cases of adulterated or falsely sourced thesis that allows the plant to make
foods, "Stable isotope analysis may be especially efficient use of water and
able to make a difference f^or the ben- also increases the plant's proportion of
efit of both industry and consumers," carbon-13 atoms. Under stable-isotope
says Wolfram Meier-Augenstein of the analysis, the two kinds of sugar give
James Hutton Institute for environmen- unmistakably different readings.
tal, crop and food science, in Aberdeen, Even hydrogen, the simplest ele-
Scotland, who introduced the session. ment of aU, exists in two isotopic forms.
News headlines and science fiction Stable-isotope analysis can discrimi-
stories rarely feature the stable (non- nate between the hydrogen found in a
radioactive) isotopes, but these are sample of rainwater, with its character-
what make up the bulk of the world istic ratio of hydrogen-1 to hydrogen-2
and everything in it. Of all the chemi- isotopes, and the hydrogen in a sample
cal elements found in nature, most of water taken from an aquifer, which
exist in multiple isotopic forms—that
is, their number of protons and elec-
trons is alwaysfixed,but the number of
neutrons may vary by one or more. Of
course, every additional neutron brings
an infinitesimal gain in atomic mass.
This distinction, between an element's
atomic number (the number of pro-
tor\s) and its atomic mass (the number
of protons plus neutrons), has tripped
up generations of chemistry students.
A well-known example of multiple
isotopes is the element carbon, which
usually takes the form of carbon-12
but can also occur in two other isoto-
pic forms. Carbon-13, with one extra
neutron, is a stable isotope; carbon-14,
with two extra neutrons, is radioac-
tive. (It is because carbon-14 decays
at a known rate that archaeologists
can estimate the age of their finds by
means of carbon-14 dating.)
When it comes to the forensic use of
stable-isotope analysis, the xmderlying
principles are straightforward. Chem- Stable-isotope makes it possible to dis-
ists have known for a long time that tinguish between similar substances with
beet sugar, for example, always dis- different sources. One example is honey,
for example the much sought after and
plays a characteristic ratio of carbon-13 often spoofed type made by bees visiting
to carbon-12 isotopes, clearly distin- sourwood trees. As a result, mass spectrom-
guishable from the " C / ^ ^ ratio of cane etry is seeing increasing application to the
sugar. The different ratios arise from courtroom because of similar uses.
2013 January-February 27
bears a different 'H/^H ratio—and be-
tween both of these and the hydrogen
in seawater, for that matter. Altitude
and latitude, temperature and degree
of mineralization in the water are all
traits that play a role in determining the
stable-isotope "signature" of a given
sample. This much is old news.
What is new in just the past few
years—what has brought stable-
isotope analysis out fiom' the shadow
of its more glamorous radioisotopic
counterpart—is the development of
a special kind of mass spectrometer
(MS) equipped with dedicated collec-
tor channels for each isotope of a given
element. The multicollector MS can
sort the various isotopes of an element
according to their minute differences
Serious Nonsense
Edivard Lear's natural-history illustration won him scientific
credihility. Now his nonsense verse may do the same
"How pleasant to know Mr. Lear," be-
gins one of Edward Lear's poems. His
bicentennary last year helped many
people know him better, with multiple
exhibits of his natural-history paintings
and drawings.
Lear gained acclaim as an illustra-
tor at age 19 for his work on parrots.
Shortly thereafter. The Earl of Derby
invited Lear to his estate near Liver-
pool to make portraits of specimens
in his vast collection of exotic animals
and plants. "Lear was somewhat lonely
at Knowsley Hall," says Robert Peck, a
Lear scholar and senior fellow of Drexel
Universify's Academy of Natural Sci-
ences in Philadelphia. "He was over-
whelmed at times by the English social
class structure." To overcome this, he be-
gan making drawings and verses for the
Earl's grandchildren. Later he.pubUshed
the verses, but he used a pseudonym for
many years. "He was concemed that the
frivolous nature of his lim.ericks would
undercut his credibOify as a scientific il-
lustrator," Peck says.
Those verses have recently come to
seem a bit less frivolous. Margaret Wal-
lace Nilsson, now a Ph.D. candidate
in history at Linnaeus Universify, took
up the question of how Lear's poems
might help children learn. "All children
28 American Scientist, Volume 101
in atomic mass, and then determine
the proportion of each isotope pres-
ent in a sample, with far greater preci-
sion than a conventional desktop mass
spectrometer. Provided there is enough
background information available
with which to compare their readings,
stable-isotope analysts can now help to
answer questions about the composi-
tion and origin of explosive materials;
they can determine whether an indi-
vidual animal was bred in captivity or
illegally caught or poached; they can
even determine the provenance, and
hence help to identify, victims of hu-
man trafficking or of deadly violence.
By the way, tliat last requirement—a
basis for comparison—is as important
as the lab instrument itself. As with the
Uke repetitive rhyme sounds," she says.
"I thought, why not apply this to Swed-
ish students of EngUsh? It might help
them improve their pronunciation and,
later on, be able identify new words
with the same phonefical pattems." In
a 2011 master's thesis for the School
of Teacher Education at Kristianstad
Universify in Sweden, Nilsson taught
a control group of fourth graders a Ust
of vocabulary words taken fiom Lear's
Nonsense ABC. An experimental group
was asked to learn verses fiom it. "The
children in the second group not only
learned to recognize the phonetical
sounds of the verses, but actually start-
ed to spontaneously rhyme other Eng-
Ush words," she says. When tested, stu-
dents in the second group remembered
words fiom the verses better. Nilsson
thinks nonsense poems may help adult
language learners as well. And she's
not alone in her interest. In 2012, Juliette
Smeed of New Zealand Tertiary Col-
lege in Auckland pubUshed an essay in
He Kupu, an early childhood education
journal, describhig types of nonsense
verse and discussing sfiategies for re-
sponding to children's nonsense play.
Lear's poetry and sketches often
employed the scientific knowledge he
cultivated for his "serious" work. Peck
forensic use of DNA, a lab read-out
fiom stable-isotope analysis can tell us
very Uttle unless it is placed in context.
The technique, says Meier-Augenstein,
"is at its most powerful when the sam-
ple in question and its isotopic com-
position can be compared to that of a
sample of known provenance." In other
words, does the dietary history encod-
ed in this victim's hair and fingernails
match that of a person reported miss-
ing? Can the fiesh, wild-caught dishes
at this seafood restaurant pass a test of
spectrometry as well as of gasfionomy?
Would the bees foraging in the sour-
wood grove be glad to claim this honey
as their own? In matters of identifica-
tion both large and small, the stable iso-
topes do not Ue.—Sandra J. Ackernian
yra iialii
The dual careers of Edward Lear (1812-1888)—
scientific illustrator and nonsense poet—cross-
pollinated in his "Nonsense Botany" series,
of which "Piggiwiggia Pyramidalis" is shown
above. (Image courtesy of Hough ton Library,
Harvard Univeisity. MS Eng 797.1120]).
points to Lear's "Nonsense Botany" se-
ries. "He's playing with the Linnaectn
binomial nomenclature, the form of the
flower and people's love of flowers,"
Peck says. "lie could take this very seri-
ous scientific world in which he traveled
and tum it literaUy upside down and
make it fun for kids—and for everyone."
If Nilsson and others are right, Lear's
upside-down world may have more to
offer than just fun.—Anna Leiw Phillips
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