It is especially hard to understand when there is ample evidence that there are plenty of innocents in prison. And when a DNA test can prove so conclusive in showing their innocence.

A case I use in a high school activity (and which will be highlighted in the new Technology Benefiting Humanity exhibition at The Tech) involves Marvin Anderson. He is an African American who was convicted of rape by an all white jury in the South.

Court TV produced a great documentary that details all of the mistakes that sent Marvin to prison. And how the Virginia state government, much like our current Supreme Court, fought the simple DNA test that eventually proved his innocence.

Marvin was a suspect because he had a white girlfriend and the rapist had said that he had a white girlfriend during the attack. In a photo line up, Marvin’s was the only picture in color. Then, in the real line up, Marvin was the only man who had been shown in the photo line up.

Marvin’s lawyer represented the man who had really committed the crime. The trial lasted one day and as I said, Marvin was sent to jail by an all white jury. And while Marvin languished in prison, the real rapist confessed but the judge threw out the confession.

This is when the Innocence Project took up the case. The Innocence Project uses genetic testing to free innocent men and women. After hearing the details of Marvin’s case, they decided to help him clear his name. And it was not easy!

First off, they had to find the evidence from the case. This is often hard to do because evidence gets thrown away after a certain amount of time.

But, by a miraculous fluke, the Virginia government found the evidence from the rape kit… it had been saved in a lab notebook. So all that needed to be done was to see if the DNA from the crime scene matched Marvin's. If it didn’t, then Marvin most likely was innocent.

But the Virginia government would not allow the evidence to be tested. Apparently, just like the Supreme Court, procedure mattered more than innocence to the bureaucrats involved.

How many people like Marvin Anderson are waiting for the justice system to do the right thing?
Finally, in 2001, after Marvin had been in jail for 15 years and spent four years on parole, Virginia passed an Innocence Project backed statute that allowed DNA evidence to be tested in some cases. Marvin’s was the first evidence tested under the new statute. He was found to be innocent and the police were able to use the evidence to catch the real rapist.

If the Virginia government had not done the right thing, the real rapist would be free to continue committing crimes. And everyone would still see Marvin as a rapist.

There are undoubtedly Marvins rotting in jail in the three states that don’t allow for genetic testing after a conviction (Alaska, Oklahoma, and Massachusetts). And other Marvins are probably in those other states that only allow genetic testing in certain situations.

The Supreme Court could have given all of these innocent people the chance that Marvin finally got after 19 years. But five justices decided against doing that.

Now I suppose there is probably some legalese reason why the Supreme Court ruled that innocent people should stay locked up. But I am not lawyer enough to understand it. And neither are the Marvins still out there, waiting for justice.

In our radio story, we feature the stylishly high tech Vineyard 29 and the Robert Mondavi Winery, but scores of other wineries are using a similar toolbox of technology to help them monitor the soil's water content to grow better grapes. The technology ends up conserving water, too. Remote sensing, ground penetrating radar and satellite technology have helped Mondavi cut back on water use by 30% in recent years.

Winemakers are using some of the same technology that NASA uses to study Mars and engineers use to build hi-rises and freeways. A typical toolbox includes multi-spectral imaging, weather stations, neutron moisture probes, and pressure bombs and there is a plethora of newer technologies in the pipeline. But enough with all the high tech gizmos. How does wine from high tech vines taste? The answer might be found in the success of the winery. Mondavi has won numerous awards over the years and there is a two-year waiting list just to purchase Vineyard 29 wines.

Check out our slide show to see some of these technologies or listen to our radio report on high tech in the vineyards.

A look into the science of skin.

In an article this week in the New York Times, brainpower was correlated with the complexity of nerve synapses. Leading researcher Dr. Grant, who has studied the interconnectedness of neurons, likened this connection to technology; "From the evolutionary perspective, the big brains of vertebrates not only have more synapses and neurons, but each of these synapses is more powerful – vertebrates have big Internets with big computers and invertebrates have small Internets with small computers." The brain has been made analogous to a computer before in order to study evolutionary adaptation. However, the brain was not the organ being studied, rather it was human skin.

Have you ever wondered why we have hair only on the tops of our heads and the rest of our skin is relatively bare? Why does our skin come in so many pigmentations? And why does our skin sweat? Dr. Nina Jablonski kept asking why and attributes these adaptations to the need to keep our brain cool. I first heard Dr. Nina Jablonski speak about her most recent book, Skin: A Natural History, in early 2007. I was absolutely enthralled and two hours raced by as she articulated her fascination with skin. Dr. Jablonski divulged into why our skin appears and acts the way it does from an evolutionary standpoint. Her findings showed that about two million years ago our ancestors were running long distances in Africa under the heat of the equatorial sun. To keep their brains cool, sweat glands became more prominent. This in turn let brain size expand and evolve. In the fossil record, it shows after this increase in brain size, Homo sapiens left Africa to migrate into Mainland China.

Skin:A Natural History

So skin was an evolutionary adaptation to keep our large brains cool and working effectively. Skin color, Dr. Jablonski surmised, was what regulated our body's reaction to the sun and its rays. Dark skin evolved to protect the body of those of our ancestors close to the equator. Those ancestors further away evolved light skin in order to take in Vitamin D in less sunny climates. After her talk about Rosacea, which is a condition of constant blushing found in Eastern European nationalities, I asked Dr. Jablonski why. She told me this might have been attributed to ancestors of light skin being overly bundled and getting over-heated. It might have been an adaptation to release heat and cool the brain from the only exposed skin.

In her lecture, Dr. Jablonski did not stop with touching upon evolutionary adaptations, she also delved into how we associate and identify through our skin. We decorate our skin, clothe it, paint it, tattoo it, scar and pierce it. She elucidated skin as an intimate connection with the world as well as our presentation of individuality. Skin: A Natural History and Dr. Nina Jablonski have gained national recognition. She was even invited as a guest on the Colbert Report to talk about her findings. It is rumored that she is following up Skin with more in-depth research. Until then, this is an outstanding look at a very under-appreciated organ, one that might have made the complex nuances of our brain and its synapses possible.

Watch Dr. Nina Jablonski on The Colbert Report:

All during this week, I have been seeing reminders that communication is powering ever new and faster technology while leaving technical carnage in its wake. Pay phones booths with the pay phones ripped out and discarded, corded telephones being thrown away, floppy disks and typewriters being recycled because they are no longer the most efficient devices.

During the Academy move to Golden Gate park, staff has helped the internal Greenteam recycle a quarter ton of e-waste at Green Citizen. Green Citizen is a company that recycles computers and e-waste at a small cost so that electronic components don't end up in landfills. What astonished me when sorting through the recycling was that the items that were being recycled were mainly data storage devices. Floppy disks, slides and CDs stacked up by the thousands. Often I don't think about the technology that has seamlessly molded into my life but in this move, I have thought a lot about how that technology has created a great deal of waste. Companies and individuals are now seeking out more responsible ways of recycling but much of it still ends up in landfills.

In the need to keep up with data storage, archives at the Academy have turned from slides to digital scanning, GPS mapping has replaced paper topography, and Skype is keeping researchers in touch rather than phones. It is so important in research to be able to communicate effectively in the remote field areas as well as with colleagues all over the world. Technology is also growing exponentially. In my lifetime alone, I have seen the Internet created, email, cordless phones, mobile phones and GPS. It is an incredible communication age and how we interact is being re-defined but at what cost? Academy policy over the last decade has been to find ways to either donate computers and technology to third world countries or find means to recycle them here. Researchers have seen first hand where electronics and e-waste can end up and what a horrible impact it can have on the bio-diverse environments.

There is a great detriment to faster and expanding communication. While younger generations excel with the technology, older generations are being alienated with technology that seems foreign. As well, the need and demand for better and faster technology creates a pile of obsolete devices and adds to the environmental crisis. This week one comment gave me pause and really made me reconsider if all this technology is a good thing. I don't have an answer but in my concern for the environment – musing over technology this week has made me reconsider if the need for instant communication outweighs its negative waste impact…