Back at the lab, the ME placed the hair on a scale which instantly tipped down. "Heavy," he uttered.

"You're telling me," groaned the assistant lugging a huge book from a shelf and began to read:

Symptoms associated with the syndrome include rebellious, inability to focus on homework, and apparent loss of hearing (requiring extremely high stereo volume, or earbud hearing aids). The disease is believed to be fatal with 80 to 100 years.

"Can also make you jumpy." He slammed the book shut. "I added that last part myself."

"Tell me something I don't know," said the ME. "Like...

"Well," continued the Assistant, "recently, great progress has been made towards isolating the gene responsible for this syndrome. We know now that there is a single gene involved, with dominant and recessive alleles. Of course this implies 3 phenotypes:

• BB: unaffected person, wild-type hair
• Bb: carrier for blue hair syndrome
• bb: blue hair"

The ME tapped his forehead. "Oh, wait, I already knew that. So why don't you earn your meager pay and tell me something I really don't already know."

The assistant threw the book over his shoulder, breaking several test tubes and a plaster cast of John Dillinger's foot, muttering "maybe I'll try the internet..."