Michael from Muckrock sez, "Here's a science experiment that would catch the attention of high schoolers: Testing cash for cocaine traces in seven easy steps, courtesy of the Drug Enforcement Agency."
In addition to being a great way to instruct kids in proper titration technique, converting between various metric measurement units, and evaporating solvents, the DEA case is a great example in the need to exercise caution in examining noise in empirical evidence: The DEA lab ultimately advised scrapping money testing altogether since 30 percent of one sample study of "clean" money turned up a positive.
Is there a bump in your bill? Here's how the DEA tested money for cocaine — and why they stopped
(Thanks, Michael!)
