'CSI' Advisor Takes Road Show Through America

North Carolina CSI fans with an interest in real-life forensic science will soon be able to visit a traveling exhibit at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh organised by one of the show's technical advisors, forensic entomologist Dr. Lee Goff.

"Our goal was to make something that was understandable and palatable for everyone, from relatively small children on up to professionals," Goff told an industry magazine with the appealing name Pest Control Technology Online. "Right now, we are set up with 11 free-standing modules. These are all filled with reading materials, pictures and various displays to introduce [visitors] to the discipline."

The exhibit is called CSI: Crime Scene Insects, fitting with Goff's main area of expertise, trying to determine the time of death of deceased persons, based on insect activity inside their bodies. The exhibit primarily focuses on three areas of his discipline: stored product contaminants, problems with structures and medical criminology. "It takes them through the history to the techniques," Goff said. "The exhibit includes wonderful fiberglass models showing bodies in different stages of decomposition. They can be rolled out and viewed."

Speaking to the pest control magazine, Goff recalled one of his most remarkable cases, which was later fictionalised in the first-season CSI episode "Sex, Lies and Larvae." As part of the case, Goff used a dead pig wrapped in blankets to prove that the wrappings delayed the onset of insect activity. "The Discovery Channel got a hold of this story, so we duplicated the experiment for the TV program," Goff said, referring to a TV show on forensics he consulted for. "The program also was on A&E and later on the first season of CSI. That one upset me because Grissom was out looking at the pig carcass with attractive women. For me, my dog hung out with me for the first hour and then left."

The CSI: Crime Scene Insects exhibit will be in Raleigh, N.C. all Summer, before heading out to Virginia in the fall, New York in the spring of 2006, Milwaukee in the summer of 2006, and Indiana in the fall. If you'd like to visit the exhibit, head over to the web site of the Museum of Natural Sciences, or the main page of the exhibit itself. Finally, more from Goff can be found in the full Pest Control Magazine article.

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