New DNA Test Shows Hair Color of Crooks

Published January 08, 2015

(3DScience.com)

A DNA test that can determine a person’s hair color was developed by Dutch scientists.

The breakthrough, announced Monday, means that a person’s hair color could soon be determined from samples of blood, sperm or saliva. Previously, only age and eye color could be predicted from such samples.

Researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center in The Netherlands said the DNA test can identify whether a person has black or red hair in 90 percent of cases and blond or brown hair in 80 percent, using 13 DNA markers from 11 genes.

The research, published in the journal "Human Genetics," could help future crime scene investigations by indicating a perpetrator's hair color to detectives.

“This type of objective information can be used to refine the description of an unknown but wanted person," said Professor Ate Kloosterman, of the Netherlands Forensic Institute.

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