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The team used some of the most advanced artificial human heads in the world for the ballistic tests. Made from a proprietary mixture by Australia-based Adelaide T&E Systems, the heads have three different materials which simulate the brain, skull and external soft tissue (skin) -- that together respond to the trauma the same way a human head would. The simulated brain material was made from a pig-skin-derived gelatin, dyed green. The skull surrogate is made from a special vinyl ester resin filled with calcium and proprietary fibers. The artificial skin uses a polyurethane and plasticizers to mimic human skin's physical properties. The head was even custom-fitted, based on Kennedy's hat size. "The heads they used were quite interesting," said Bevel. "They were considerably more sophisticated than anything I've seen before." In addition to the physical environment, a virtual environment was also set up. A team from Los Angeles-based Creative Differences went to the original Dallas crime scene and took precise measurements of all the angles, distances, wind speed and directions, etc., in the area to create a 3-D model of the crime scene. To animate it, the team looked at a video of the assassination filmed by Abraham Zapruder. The Zapruder film, as it's called, is generally believed to be the most complete video of the shooting because of its clear view of the motorcade and the height it was shot from. Only two of the 486 Zapruder frames actually show Kennedy being shot. Computer graphics expert Doug Martin highlighted the red parts of the frames and the blood resulting from the wound, and plotted them onto the computer simulation to see where the fatal shot came from. "We might never know if Oswald pulled the trigger, but when you look at the wind pattern, the spread of the debris, the angles and distances involved, it's consistent with a shot from the sixth floor depository," said Martin. This kind of computer analysis has only been available for about five years, says Martin. He expects criminologists will continue to make use of 3-D crime scene simulations to help reconstruct events and gather evidence a 2-D picture alone can't reveal. "I think this is the wave of the future," said Martin. "If we had this technology back in the '60s, I think it would have put a lot of the conspiracy theories to rest." Related Links: Discovery Tech: Making JFK's Body Double HowStuffWorks.com: Conspiracy Theories -- JFK References |
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Top 5 from HowStuffWorks.comTop 5 JFK Assassination Theories 5. The Mafia -- A few theorists have come to the conclusion that the president's assassination was a mafia plot and Lee Harvey Oswald was the hit man. 4. The Soviet Union -- Some suggest the assassination of Kennedy was actually a KGB plot carried out by Oswald, who had a Russian wife. 3. Fidel Castro -- A German documentary claims that Oswald met with Cuban agents in Mexico and volunteered to assassinate the president. 2. The Grassy Knoll -- Only one location gets as much discussion as the book depository: the grassy knoll, a fenced-off area near an underpass on one end of Dealey Plaza. 1. The Inside Job -- Our last theory blames the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for masterminding the assassination of JFK. 
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