Can you crack the case?

Wouldn’t it be fun to put on a detective’s cap and solve a crime like the characters do in the TV series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”? Now’s your chance, at the educational interactive exhibition “CSI: The Experience – Macau” at the Sheraton Macao Hotel Cotai Central.
 In its 14 seasons “CSI” has captured viewers all over the world with its crime investigators solving grisly murders using enough clever deduction and drama to spin off two other series, “CSI: Miami” and “CSI: NY”.
The original series has been nominated multiple times for industry awards and has won nine in its run. The TV programme has spawned several projects in other media, including an exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, a set of books and several video games.
Every aspiring Dick Tracy, Nancy Drew, Vanessa Mars and Sherlock Holmes can head to the Sands Cotai Central to pit their sleuthing skills against the CIS experts. Co-presented by the Sands and the Sheraton Macao Hotel, “CSI: The Experience – Macau” is an intriguing exhibition spawned from a hit permanent exhibit in Las Vegas that’s also produced a touring exhibition.
You can play the role of a crime-scene investigator from the television show and familiarise yourself with scientific principles and genuine investigative techniques with three different crime scenarios.
Developed by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, “CSI: The Experience” has earned the Themed Entertainment Association’s Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement, which is the genre’s highest honour.
In the scenario titled “A House Collided”, a motorist appears to have crashed into someone’s living room, leaving a dead body and a mess of blood splatters, fingerprints and empty beer bottles. Is it an accident – or a set-up to cover a murder?
In a scene called “Who Got Served?”, a dead waitress is found in an alley behind an old Las Vegas motel with some items belonging to her in the rubbish nearby. Is it a simple robbery – or a robbery gone wrong?
And “No Bones About It” is set in a desert canyon, where a hiker has found a human skull. Can you figure out who the skull belonged to and who killed him?
Observe the scene closely and remember as much as you can, because every little detail is a piece in the jigsaw puzzle. And because looks can be deceiving, you can’t really rely on what you see to make a case. You need a good lab, good technicians and an open mind to develop the case and make educated conclusions.
To begin with, you’ll probably find yourself dumbfounded when you see the crime scene. “Where do I start?” you might ask. But don’t worry. There’s a list of guidelines to follow, and even directions to certain labs for specific scientific inquiries. From the three scene, you’ll get to experience scientific techniques used by real crime-scene investigators and forensic scientists, including DNA identification, toxicology, firearm and tool-mark identification, latent prints and the new sciences of forensic anthropology, forensic pathology and blood-splatter analysis.
Then you just connect the dots.
Set aside 40 or 50 minutes for each crime scene. Not only it will take a bit of time to get test results from the labs, you’ll get to learn from the experts in each field and dig deep into the science.
It’s a lot of reading, listening and contemplating, so it’s ideal for those with an inquisitive mind and a fair interest in forensic science. It’s fun to do it by yourself as you go from lab to lab brooding over possibilities, and yet it’s also great for a group of friends or a family to work as a team and discuss the case together.
Once you’ve developed the case, you present it to supervisor Gil Grissom and learn whether or not you’ve “cracked” it. Your conclusions are compared with those of expert CSI investigators and “diplomas” are awarded at the close of the case.
Don’t get too confident and try to solve a real crime after this, though. Call the police!

YEEAAAH!
“CSI: The Experience – Macau” continues in the Sheraton Macao Hotel’s Caspian Ballroom until June 15, daily from 11am to 8pm.
The admission fee ranges from 76 to 288 pacata (Bt304 to Bt1,152)