forensic science

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Crime Scene Investigator Preps for Murder Probes in Space
Future Space Criminals
Will Face 'Astroforensics'
NEW STUDY
Mar 12, 2024 1:18 PM CDT

Future Space Criminals Will Face 'Astroforensics'

Crime scene investigator Zack Kowalske has been testing blood spatters in zero gravity

(Newser) - The emerging field of astroforensics will be called upon whenever humanity faces its first murder in space. Until that time, Zack Kowalske, a crime scene investigator in Atlanta, says "broadening the understanding of all forensic sciences in nonterrestrial environments is critical as we expand into a space-faring species."...

Killer Swore He Wasn't at Lake. Bug Scientist Proved the Lie

'Smithsonian Magazine' profiles pioneering forensics expert Paola Magni

(Newser) - Investigators in Italy initially ruled the death of teenager Federica Mangiapelo to be from natural causes. Her body was found near an Italian lake, though it wasn't clear whether she had actually been in the water. The case seemed closed until a police officer who had recently attended a...

Pair Wrongfully Convicted of Murder to Get $25M Payout

Connecticut settlement involves forensic expert Henry Lee, accused of fabricating evidence

(Newser) - Connecticut's attorney general has agreed to a $25.2 million settlement with two men who spent decades in prison for murder, based partly on evidence presented by famed forensic scientist Henry Lee that a judge later found was fabricated. Ralph "Ricky" Birch and Shawn Henning were convicted in...

Crime Labs Often Reach Dubious Conclusions
Forensic Scientists Often
Produce Dubious Results
LONGFORM
May 28, 2022 4:00 PM CDT

Forensic Scientists Often Produce Dubious Results

For decades, flawed and fabricated evidence has been used to convict innocent people

(Newser) - G. Michele Yezzo worked for 32 years as a forensic scientist in Ohio. She resigned in 2009, after being reprimanded by her supervisor for "interpretational and observational errors" that "could lead to a substantial miscarriage of justice." By then, Yezzo had amassed a 449-page personnel file loaded...

Murderer Phil Spector's Defense Argument Debunked
Researchers Debunk
Phil Spector's Defense
new STUDY
Jul 3, 2021 12:25 PM CDT

Researchers Debunk Phil Spector's Defense

His lawyers claimed lack of blood spatter proved his innocence, but new studies cast doubt

(Newser) - Crime shows make blood-spatter analysis look foolproof, as easy as seeing flecks of blood and knowing from which direction an assailant fired a gun. But the reality is far trickier , as new research inspired by the 2003 murder of actor Lana Clarkson shows. The late music producer Phil Spector was...

We've Got Cadaver Dogs. Next Up: Cadaver Plants?
In Search for Human
Bodies, Plants May Be Key
NEW STUDY
Sep 8, 2020 10:35 AM CDT

In Search for Human Bodies, Plants May Be Key

Chemicals from decomposing remains may trigger visible changes in vegetation

(Newser) - Researchers are toying with a new idea that could transform grueling and expensive body-recovery missions, and it involves what you might call cadaver plants. Yes, plants. Neal Stewart, a biologist at the University of Tennessee, has long been interested in the ways plants sense and respond to stresses. Now, he...

Forensic Expert Suggests Epstein Was Murdered
Forensic Expert
Suggests Epstein
Was Murdered
UPDATED
Oct 30, 2019 9:35 AM CDT

Forensic Expert Suggests Epstein Was Murdered

Neck fractures imply homicidal strangulation: Dr. Michael Baden

(Newser) - A forensic pathologist hired by Jeffrey Epstein's brother says the financier may have been murdered inside his Manhattan prison cell on Aug. 10. "There's evidence here of homicide that should be investigated," Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner who witnessed the autopsy,...

We've Probably Had Earhart's Bones This Whole Time: Study

New forensic analysis says doctor got it wrong in 1940

(Newser) - "Until definitive evidence is presented that the remains are not those of Amelia Earhart, the most convincing argument is that they are hers." That's the bold conclusion of a new study published in Forensic Anthropology that seeks to end the mystery surrounding the fate of the...

Human Age Can Be Revealed Through Sinus X-Rays
Human Age Can Be Revealed
Through Sinus X-Rays
new study
Jun 6, 2017 9:15 AM CDT

Human Age Can Be Revealed Through Sinus X-Rays

Could help forensic scientists working with 'incomplete remains'

(Newser) - When scientists are working with only partial remains, it can be very difficult to determine age. Now forensic anthropologists say they've found a way to help approximate age in children: noninvasive X-rays of the skull's frontal sinus region. Reporting in the journal Anatomical Record , they say that's...

Little-Known 'Detective X' Helped Crack Lindbergh Case

Wilmer Souder was an early pioneer in forensic science

(Newser) - He was a mild-mannered physicist with a specialty analyzing dental fillings, toiling anonymously at the National Bureau of Standards. (It's now the National Institute of Standards and Technology.) But Wilmer Souder led a double life of sorts and would be unmasked decades later as "Detective X,"...

New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death

It can determine a person's time of death up to 10 days later

(Newser) - Current forensic tests use a person's core body temperature to determine their time of death, but it only works within roughly three days of death. Now researchers at the University of Salzburg in Austria say they've devised a new method that can figure out the exact time of...

FBI Gave Bad Forensics Testimony for Years

Hair-comparison experts 'overstated' the facts, FBI admits

(Newser) - Impressed when an FBI forensic expert testifies in court? Jurors likely are too, but the FBI's hair-comparison unit actually gave unscientific testimony against criminal defendants for more than 20 years before 2000, according to the FBI and the Justice Dept. Among the FBI's 28 microscopic hair experts, 26...

How Hair Dye Could Help Cops Catch Perps

New technique identifies brand of dye on microscopic hair

(Newser) - If you dye your hair and plan on committing a crime, be warned: A new procedure allows scientists to determine if a single microscopic hair has been dyed, if that dye was permanent or temporary, and even what brand of dye was used. Scientists used surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, or SERS,...

How Rapists Who Wear Condoms Could Be Caught
How Rapists Who Wear Condoms Could Be Caught
new study
Dec 17, 2014 8:39 AM CST

How Rapists Who Wear Condoms Could Be Caught

Bacterial profiles of pubic hair so unique they could identify perpetrators

(Newser) - Investigators routinely analyze pubic hairs found at crime scenes where rape is suspected, but it's rare that the hair has its root, and thus sufficient DNA to identify its former owner. Now researchers say that bacterial colonies on pubic hairs appear to be so unique to an individual that...

Descartes' Skull Reveals Secret About His Life

17th-century French mathematician famously said, 'I think, therefore I am'

(Newser) - French mathematician and father of modern philosophy Rene Descartes is perhaps most famous for his phrase, "I think, therefore I am." But now French medical anthropologist and forensic expert Philippe Charlier is adding a layer of intrigue to the thinker's history. Descartes died in Stockholm in 1650...

Disappearing da Vinci Portrait's Savior: Scientists?

New technique allows them to quantify the damage

(Newser) - A Leonardo da Vinci portrait—thought to be a self portrait of the artist in his 50s—has been fading ever since it was first drawn with red chalk on paper in the early 1500s. Now, thanks to a new technique, scientists say they've been able to quantify the...

Bite Mark Evidence May Soon Be Kicked Out of Court

New court case may end controversial method for good

(Newser) - At least 24 men convicted or charged with murder or rape based on bite marks on the flesh of victims have been exonerated since 2000, many after spending more than a decade in prison. Now a judge's ruling later this month in New York could help end the practice...

How to ID an Old Corpse? With This 'Secret' Fluid

In crime-infested Mexico, it comes in handy

(Newser) - A forensic expert in one Mexico's most violent cities has found a way to cull secrets from corpses that have gone dry, AFP reports. Alejandro Hernandez, who handles waves of dead bodies in Ciudad Juarez, lowers them into a homemade solution that makes their murder wounds and facial features...

Forensic Science Could ID Mystery Portraits

California professor aims to unveil 'The Girl With the Pearl Earring'

(Newser) - A California professor is bringing CSI techniques to the art world: Conrad Rudolph of UC Riverside has obtained funding to apply advanced facial recognition technology to famous paintings like Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, the Guardian reports. Such mystery portraits could finally be identified—if, that is, measurements...

Those Aren't Zimmerman's Cries on 911 Tape: Experts

Zimmerman claimed he was one crying for help, but evidence says no

(Newser) - It is one of the biggest questions remaining about what happened the night George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin—who was it heard screaming for help on that 911 call? Zimmerman claims he was the one screaming . But now two forensic experts, using different techniques, both say the voice...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser