How to Identify a Bird From the Smallest Feather

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The FBI has worked with scientists from the Smithsonian since the 1930s but until Roxie no one had specialized in feathers. Her first criminal case was a homicide investigation. She also worked a cold case in Alaska for the FBI. And once they asked her to go undercover. It's all every job is custom job. You have a general method but whatever material you have has to be worked around this method.

On October 4, 1960, Eastern Airlines Flight 375 took off from Boston’s Logan airport, and then, two minutes later, it crashed. 62 people died. Investigators couldn't figure out what had happened, and they decided to ask a scientist working at the Smithsonian for help. Roxie Laybourne's investigation helped launch a whole new field of science that changed aviation and forensics.

Special thanks to the Smithsonian Institution Archives for letting us share audio of Roxie Laybourne.

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