Can your DNA create a sketch of your face?

In today’s Big Story Podcast, can your DNA create a sketch of your face? The answer is yes, but the better question might be: Is it something that could be used against you? The technology does exist to use a sample to create a sketch of a person’s face, but there are doubts about its accuracy, and how much value it provides.

But that hasn’t stopped police from taking these sketches and running them through facial recognition software. 

Searching for someone who looks like the drawing a computer made when it was given your DNA? Welcome to the next level of investigative technology. As you might imagine, the experts have concerns.

Dhruv Mehrotra is a staff writer at WIRED. “I think most experts I spoke to, or really all experts I spoke to, said that this just wouldn’t work. At best, it wouldn’t produce a lead, like you wouldn’t find a face, and at worst, it would result in sort of like a false positive match,” said Mehrota. 

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You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.