WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.488 --> 00:00:03.571 (instrumental music) 2 00:00:09.732 --> 00:00:12.035 Imagine for a moment that you're a homicide detective 3 00:00:12.035 --> 00:00:14.082 line:15% who's just received an anonymous tip. 4 00:00:14.082 --> 00:00:16.562 line:15% Now, as you arrive at the scene, it's visceral. 5 00:00:16.562 --> 00:00:18.697 Clearly, your victim has suffered a gunshot wound as 6 00:00:18.697 --> 00:00:21.178 a cause of death, but the trail is cold. 7 00:00:21.178 --> 00:00:23.723 It's been weeks since the crime was committed. 8 00:00:23.723 --> 00:00:25.555 Now, fortunately, in their haste, the assailant accidentally 9 00:00:25.555 --> 00:00:27.754 left behind their calling card at the scene. 10 00:00:27.754 --> 00:00:30.369 But, the calling card itself just contains lists of 11 00:00:30.369 --> 00:00:32.377 different names or aliases. 12 00:00:32.377 --> 00:00:34.879 So how do we determine who our murderer was? 13 00:00:34.879 --> 00:00:35.849 And for that matter, how do we even know 14 00:00:35.849 --> 00:00:36.928 that it was a murder? 15 00:00:36.928 --> 00:00:39.159 Could it not have just been an accident and the assailant 16 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:40.855 fled the scene in fear afterwards? 17 00:00:40.855 --> 00:00:44.297 Well, unfortunately, and albeit to a much lesser magnitude, 18 00:00:44.297 --> 00:00:46.878 in agriculture we're asked similar questions all the time. 19 00:00:46.878 --> 00:00:49.287 When our, herbicide detectives you can think of them, 20 00:00:49.287 --> 00:00:51.903 are asked to investigate the cause of crop injury 21 00:00:51.903 --> 00:00:53.967 like we see with the soybeans here. 22 00:00:53.967 --> 00:00:56.898 Now, like being able to easily detect a gunshot wound 23 00:00:56.898 --> 00:00:59.183 as a cause of death, generally based on the specific 24 00:00:59.183 --> 00:01:02.408 symptoms presented by the crop, we can determine the cause. 25 00:01:02.408 --> 00:01:05.321 But in this case, the cause implicated is actually an entire 26 00:01:05.321 --> 00:01:09.065 class of herbicides called the synthetic auxin herbicides. 27 00:01:09.065 --> 00:01:11.200 Now, the problem with these herbicides is that, like having 28 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.496 multiple aliases, there are multiple different formulations 29 00:01:14.496 --> 00:01:17.539 of herbicide products available on the market that each 30 00:01:17.539 --> 00:01:21.223 contain the exact same synthetic auxin molecule. 31 00:01:21.223 --> 00:01:24.463 Fortunately though, there are also additive molecules added 32 00:01:24.463 --> 00:01:26.983 to these different products, which themselves differ, 33 00:01:26.983 --> 00:01:28.183 only a little bit though, 34 00:01:28.183 --> 00:01:30.415 in subtle molecular structure differences. 35 00:01:30.415 --> 00:01:32.561 So you might ask yourself, why does that matter? 36 00:01:32.561 --> 00:01:34.031 Why do we even care? 37 00:01:34.031 --> 00:01:36.783 And the answer is, because of all those products available, 38 00:01:36.783 --> 00:01:41.095 only a couple of them are labeled for legal use in crops. 39 00:01:41.095 --> 00:01:43.479 Which means that if the injury to these soybeans was caused 40 00:01:43.479 --> 00:01:46.887 by one of the non-labeled formulations, it's illegal and 41 00:01:46.887 --> 00:01:50.041 tentamount to egregious soybean murder. 42 00:01:50.041 --> 00:01:51.991 Where as, if one of the labeled herbicides causes the 43 00:01:51.991 --> 00:01:54.128 injury, it's just a simple accident. 44 00:01:54.128 --> 00:01:56.426 But, you're not gonna be able to distinguish that with 45 00:01:56.426 --> 00:01:58.481 the naked eye weeks after the fact. 46 00:01:58.481 --> 00:02:00.700 And so, what my research is doing, is developing a method 47 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:03.074 utilizing an analytic chemistry technique called 48 00:02:03.074 --> 00:02:06.441 infrared spectroscopy that takes plant tissue samples from 49 00:02:06.441 --> 00:02:09.834 these damaged plants and runs them through a spectrometer 50 00:02:09.834 --> 00:02:12.825 machine, like we see here in the inset image, which itself 51 00:02:12.825 --> 00:02:15.761 shoots a beam of infrared light through the sample and 52 00:02:15.761 --> 00:02:19.505 then characterizes and determines the frequency and pattern 53 00:02:19.505 --> 00:02:21.956 of the light that is transmitted through the sample and 54 00:02:21.956 --> 00:02:23.246 presents it in an image, 55 00:02:23.246 --> 00:02:25.150 like we see here in the outset image. 56 00:02:25.150 --> 00:02:27.177 And that image is called a spectrum. 57 00:02:27.177 --> 00:02:29.002 You can kind of think it as the shadow 58 00:02:29.002 --> 00:02:31.273 of an individual molecule. 59 00:02:31.273 --> 00:02:34.801 And so, by analyzing a specific region on this spectrum, 60 00:02:34.801 --> 00:02:37.212 we can characterize subtle differences in molecular 61 00:02:37.212 --> 00:02:40.513 vibrations of the functional groups on the additive molecule 62 00:02:40.513 --> 00:02:42.979 which allows us to determine the exact herbicide 63 00:02:42.979 --> 00:02:45.821 that caused the injury, and thus determine if it was 64 00:02:45.821 --> 00:02:48.305 an accident or soybean murder. 65 00:02:48.305 --> 00:02:50.925 Thus ultimately allowing us to protect crop producers 66 00:02:50.925 --> 00:02:53.733 from those who choose to illegally apply herbicides 67 00:02:53.733 --> 00:02:56.610 by catching them (infra)red-handed. 68 00:02:56.610 --> 00:02:57.443 Thank you. 69 00:02:57.443 --> 00:03:00.526 (instrumental music)