Well hon, you go right ahead and get all those facts and figures on those blood suckers down correctly!
There will be a test as soon as we can find someone who can mark your paper in the daylight or at least in a darkened room with grave dirt on the floor....
I really wasn't much help before was I? Sorry about that, but I have been thinking about this question.
First I suppose it depends on which lore you need to follow - Stoker, Hammer Films, Rice, Whedon and Kripke to name a few have all delved into the vampire thing and all have a unique take on it.
I could be wrong but I think it was Ultraviolet that took the vampire myth to the level of a disease - but I'm sure others have as well.
However as we now inhabit a world of CSI and Re-Genesis the DNA problem is bound to surface sooner or later and as Supernatural is the most recent of these shows I guess it wouldn't be out of the way to expect some sort of explanation down the line. I haven't seen any other vampire episodes apart from Dead Man's Blood, but so far I don't think Kripke has laid down every law on this yet.
I'm not a scientist so you could probably fool me a lot of the time, I wouldn't question it in depth. As a reader I would expect it to make some sort of logical sense though and as far as that goes I think basic human DNA would match a vampire on the surface. Again I don't know details but I seem to think there are various tests some not as thorough as others. So for blood relationships I wouldn't expect anything strange to turn up in the DNA.
Maybe if a very close scrutiny was made I can see that differences would be found. For instance the gene for ageing might be flawed, a pair reversed that usually causes premature ageing in children? Or maybe the gene that makes a reptile grow a new tail might be in the human vampire strand, how about the sharks replaceable teeth gene explaining how in Supernatural Vampires seem to shed teeth like snakes shed skin? The gene that causes the production of melanin might be missing etc. etc.
I would imagine that it would be some form of ALL of these strange things being present that might test for a vampire but singly wouldn't be noticed. But heck I'm pretty easily fooled with stuff like this as long as it sounds plausible I'm likely to lap it up.
Hmmmm, you've given me food for thought! My primary issue with the vampire scenario is precisely that the crime scene is going to be scrutinized pretty closely. I'm nervous enough about making Abby seem competent without throwing the whole vampire wrench into the mix...
I like your idea of a vampire being able to absorb another's DNA. In a crime scene maybe hundreds of DNA types would turn up?
Also think about the scenario of a vampire drinking and absorbing animal blood in the same way - if the crime scene itself was in or frequented by someone in animal process, like butchery or meat processing, then the very fact that samples collected having animal blood DNA present might make someone discard said samples as being contaminated from a believable source...same sort of thing could happen if the vampire was drinking blood from a blood bank and there were many packets of blood around, that too would contaminate any vampire blood traces enough for no anomalies to show - just too many types.
Best of luck anyway I'm sure you will do Abby proud. :))
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 10:55 pm (UTC)There will be a test as soon as we can find someone who can mark your paper in the daylight or at least in a darkened room with grave dirt on the floor....
;)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 04:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 02:22 pm (UTC)First I suppose it depends on which lore you need to follow - Stoker, Hammer Films, Rice, Whedon and Kripke to name a few have all delved into the vampire thing and all have a unique take on it.
I could be wrong but I think it was Ultraviolet that took the vampire myth to the level of a disease - but I'm sure others have as well.
However as we now inhabit a world of CSI and Re-Genesis the DNA problem is bound to surface sooner or later and as Supernatural is the most recent of these shows I guess it wouldn't be out of the way to expect some sort of explanation down the line. I haven't seen any other vampire episodes apart from Dead Man's Blood, but so far I don't think Kripke has laid down every law on this yet.
I'm not a scientist so you could probably fool me a lot of the time, I wouldn't question it in depth. As a reader I would expect it to make some sort of logical sense though and as far as that goes I think basic human DNA would match a vampire on the surface. Again I don't know details but I seem to think there are various tests some not as thorough as others. So for blood relationships I wouldn't expect anything strange to turn up in the DNA.
Maybe if a very close scrutiny was made I can see that differences would be found. For instance the gene for ageing might be flawed, a pair reversed that usually causes premature ageing in children? Or maybe the gene that makes a reptile grow a new tail might be in the human vampire strand, how about the sharks replaceable teeth gene explaining how in Supernatural Vampires seem to shed teeth like snakes shed skin? The gene that causes the production of melanin might be missing etc. etc.
I would imagine that it would be some form of ALL of these strange things being present that might test for a vampire but singly wouldn't be noticed. But heck I'm pretty easily fooled with stuff like this as long as it sounds plausible I'm likely to lap it up.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 09:40 pm (UTC)Also think about the scenario of a vampire drinking and absorbing animal blood in the same way - if the crime scene itself was in or frequented by someone in animal process, like butchery or meat processing, then the very fact that samples collected having animal blood DNA present might make someone discard said samples as being contaminated from a believable source...same sort of thing could happen if the vampire was drinking blood from a blood bank and there were many packets of blood around, that too would contaminate any vampire blood traces enough for no anomalies to show - just too many types.
Best of luck anyway I'm sure you will do Abby proud. :))