A Better Way To Reveal Fingerprints. November 6, 2012 Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Fingerprint evidence is often used in court cases to finger the guilty party. Sad puns aside, while using fingerprints can be a reliable way to identify a subject, it´s not always easy to find a clear and usable print. Now, a team of scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created a new method to visualize these fingerprints by creating a negative image, making them much easier to read and much more accurate. This team of Hebrew scientists were led by Prof. Paper evidence is used in many criminal investigations and the fingerprints planted within can be helpful to determine who handled important documents, such as checks, currency, etc. In the conventional method, these prints are found by using gold particles which stick to the areas of sweat. Instead of sticking to the sweat, the gold particles used in the new method stick to the paper. Source: Michael Harper for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online.
Police Chief Magazine - View Article. By Julian Fantino, Commissioner, Ontario Provincial Police, Orillia, Ontario, Canada Though offering a fundamental perspective on the many complexities of forensic science, this article is intended simply to introduce the reader to the informative articles authored by members of the IACP Forensics Committee as featured in this issue ofThe Police Chief. he evolution of law enforcement has benefited greatly from the many extraordinary advances in the field of forensic science—the application of scientific processes to solve legal problems most notably within the context of the criminal justice system.
Be it the long-established use of fingerprint analysis, the examination of tool or bullet markings, chemical analyses, or the more recent, extraordinary advances that have been made in DNA technology, forensic science has been and continues to be one of the most valued and productive resources available to law enforcement and indeed to the justice system as a whole.
Conclusion Note: Top. Strands of Evidence. By Ari Daniel Shapiro Posted 10.11.12 NOVA scienceNOW You are what you eat, and what you eat ends up in your hair. Scientists in the U.S. and Europe have used this basic idea—and some sophisticated isotopic analysis—to devise a sort of hair-based GPS tracking system. A single strand contains information on your whereabouts over the past few months, a fact that law enforcement agencies are now using to solve crimes. Listen to the story. Your hair may reveal more about you than you realize—including where you live and where you have been. Lesley Chesson opens a cardboard box inside her office at IsoForensics, a Salt Lake City-based company that uses science to fight crime. She pulls out a bulging manila envelope. "That one definitely has hair in it," she says with a chuckle. A senior scientist at the company, Chesson reaches into the envelope and removes a mass of brunette hair.
"It's hair from Shawnee, [Oklahoma]," he says. "The hair becomes a linear tape recorder," says Ehleringer. Recent Developments in Forensic DNA. The use of DNA in forensics continues to expand. Last year, James Cass reviewed the current system of forensic DNA profiling in the U.S., including CODIS (the Combined DNA Index System, the FBI’s integrated DNA profiling program), the controversial practice of partial/familial searching, and calls from President Obama and others to collect DNA profiles for all Americans in a national database.
He posted follow-up pieces focused on advance DNA collection under Katie’s Law, the growing backlog of DNA samples, and familial DNA database searching, which gained support after it facilitated the arrest of the elusive serial killer in California known as the Grim Sleeper. A number of newer developments have caught our attention.
The Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and GeneWatch UK teamed up to announce a new online resource called National DNA Databases last month. Partial DNA Matching Expanding. Another problem is that the U.S. Where to Next for Forensic DNA? High-Tech, High-Risk Forensics. Dnaf. DNA solves 13-year-old cold case murder mystery. SALT LAKE CITY -- Science is changing the way police officers solve cases that have remained a mystery for several years, particularly in high profile murder cases where DNA evidence was hard to obtain. Putting up a desperate fight for her life 13 years ago, a 10-year-old girl named Anna Palmer was attacked and killed outside her front door.
As she fought off her attacker, Palmer left several clues about her killer, but detectives lacked the science necessary to make the connection. The heinous crime terrorized the Salt Lake community after Palmer's mother found her dead on the front porch of the home, with five stab wounds to the throat and a severely beaten body. One of the stab wounds severed Palmer's spinal cord. "It was such a hole in the neighborhood to have her be gone," said neighbor Rebecca Sterling. Following the murder, detectives had little to work with: there were no witnesses, no obvious evidence and no apparent suspects. Email: syi@ksl.com. Antibody Profiling Speeds Forensics. NZ at forefront of crime scene DNA testing - National News.
Published: 9:59AM Thursday October 25, 2012 Source: Fairfax Source: ONE News Police like to insist the reality of forensic work during crime investigations is nothing like the slick, fast process shown on US TV shows like CSI - but real life is catching up with fiction. Crown research institute ESR, which provides forensic services to government agencies, is trying to speed up the identification of DNA found at crime scenes.
In its just published 2012 annual report, ESR said it was working with companies in Britain and the US in developing "DNA at the crime scene" technology. "Until now, DNA interpretation has been very hands-on and can be quite a slow process. But things are changing," ESR DNA interpretation specialist Jo Bright said. "DNA at the scene will involve taking a portable device, about the size of a suitcase, to the crime scene for profiling samples. "Resulting profiles will be compared with the New Zealand DNA database instantly, identifying people of interest to the police. Elsevier. Y chromosomes give the name away - science-in-society - 22 February 2006.
Leaving DNA evidence at the scene of a crime could be tantamount to leaving your calling card, leading police to your name even if your DNA has never been recorded, a new study suggests. Mark Jobling and colleagues at the University of Leicester, UK, recruited 150 pairs of men. Each pair shared the same British surname but were not knowingly related. The researchers analysed their Y chromosomes, which are passed directly from father to son. About a quarter of them were genetically connected in this way, meaning they must have shared an ancestor more recently than 20 generations ago, or about AD 1300, when surnames were first used in the UK.
The more uncommon the name, the more likely they were to have near-identical genetic profiles. People with names that are very common in the UK such as Smith, Jones and Taylor did not necessarily show genetic links, but sharers of names such as Major (5500 occurrences in the UK) and Swindlehurst (650 occurrences) had almost identical patterns. Painting a suspect's portrait with DNA. 6 January 2011Last updated at 02:50 By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News DNA could be used to predict aspects of appearance, such as a person's hair and skin colour Police sketches are a standard part of detective work, particularly in violent crimes. A sketch or e-fit based on an eyewitness description, together with information about height, build, age and ethnicity can help lead police to a suspect. But how many of these details could be obtained from blood or DNA left at a crime scene? Predicting a person's outward traits from genetic information is a newly emerging field in forensics.
Scientists have already developed ways of testing for traits such as age and eye colour and are working on others for skin colour and even facial dimensions. This research effort could yield new tools to help identify unknown DNA profiles at crime scenes. The current approach, known as genetic profiling, involves comparing crime scene DNA with that from a suspect or with a profile stored in a database.
NRGforensics. Forensic20yearsDNA.