The Washington Post reports on how a new portable machine is revolutionizing the way DNA samples are analyzed. Roughly the size of a large desktop printer, Rapid DNA can produce a profile of 20 specific loci on a DNA strand in less than two hours instead of days or weeks. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an initiative to create a Rapid DNA network, connecting booking stations around the country so they can check arrestees against the FBI’s combined national DNA database, CODIS. Approved by Congress in 2017, the FBI plans to roll out the Rapid DNA network in 2019. “There’s no agency that’s controlling the rollout of this technology,” Jennifer Lynch of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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