C.S.I. Miami – Oxygen Isotope Map
We Call Bull!!! This is a case where the writers of CSI Miami took some legitimate theoretical science and ran with it.
Here’s the setup… Eric Delko (one of the CSI’s) is about to be deported because some documents showed up that indicated he wasn’t a US citizen. Earlier in the show, Eric supposedly Russian father had lost a tooth that have been recovered by the CSI team. They ground up the tooth and determined the level of particular oxygen isotope in the enamel. Using a map that showed the level of this isotope in the atmosphere at different locations around the world, they were able to prove that the father actually was born in Arizona not Russia. Hence, no deportation.
In theory, the level of a particular isotope in the atmosphere would be represented in the enamel of a tooth. The problem is that in order to use that information you’d need a map that not only showed the exact levels of that isotope for every single spot on earth, it would also have to be a map that represented those levels at the time the particular person was a child. That’s when the enamel on his/her teeth was forming.
In this episode, the man in question was at least 65. I find it hard to believe that they would have been recording isotopes for the entire world right smack in the middle of WWII.
As always, feel free to agree with me, argue with me, or flat out prove me wrong.
