Bin Laden has apparently been killed by US Special Forces.

[funnymouth]

If you don't have a prior DNA sample of Ossama then the only conclusion you can make is that the person killed is either a relative of Ossama or an offspring of "his" parents (that assuming you actually have DNA sample of his parents and relatives). It is not written in his DNA that is was "made for Ossama bin Laden"

sorry to bust your balls on this one, but as a molecular biologist with more than a decade of experience in genetic research and population genetics, and an intimate understanding of the exact methods used, you are wrong. it is most certainly possible to id a person using the genetic materials of relatives. bin laden has many relatives and children (20, at least). collecting the necessary genetic material would not have been difficult for a clandestine organization, especially since many were very public figures. if it were my department id for damn sure have prepared for this event.

edit: as a related topic, a great deal of BS is floating around about the time it took to get the DNA results. using the latest and greatest DNA technologies this could easily be done, and verified in a matter of hours (if that). shit, I could do it in an afternoon, all by myself, without a team of experts and multimillion dollar top of the line machines and computers.