The crime laboratory's analysis of human hair cannot determine which of the following?

• A. Age/sex
• B. Height
• C. Eye color
• D. Hair color

Answer: (A)

The main idea is understanding what hair analysis can and cannot reveal. From a hair sample, examiners can observe hair color directly and determine whether the hair is natural or dyed. If the root is present, DNA analysis can sometimes yield information about a person, including sex. But age and sex cannot be determined from the hair shaft alone; there are no reliable markers in hair morphology that indicate a person’s age, and sex determination requires DNA evidence rather than characteristics of the hair itself. So, age or sex is the trait that hair analysis cannot reliably determine. Hair color is something you can identify from the sample, while height and eye color are not information you can confidently infer from hair alone, making them less relevant to the question’s focus on what hair analysis cannot determine.