forensic science

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Experts Rebuild Faces of Civil War Sailors

Forensic scientists hope to identify men on USS Monitor

(Newser) - Talk about a cold case: Forensic scientists have reconstructed the faces of two sailors who drowned in the USS Monitor 150 years ago in the hope someone will identify them, the AP reports. Experts at Louisiana State University built the faces around skulls of two skeletal remains recovered from the...

Murdered French King Getting Head Back

Henri IV's head was stolen by revolutionaries in 1793

(Newser) - Beloved French monarch Henri IV is going to be reunited with his head after more than 200 years. The king, assassinated by a Catholic fundamentalist in 1610, had his head removed from his body by revolutionaries ransacking a royal chapel in 1793. A head presumed to be Henri's was passed...

180K Rape Kits Sit, Untested
 180K Rape Kits Sit, Untested 
EVIDENCE LANGUISHES
Aug 12, 2010 1:31 PM CDT

180K Rape Kits Sit, Untested

Delay means rapists are free to attack other women

(Newser) - The forensic magic of CSI aside, the US is buried under an embarrassing avalanche of unprocessed rape kits, Marie Claire reports in a lengthy look at the consequences. The issue got attention in 2003, when untested kits from more than 500,000 criminal cases were found in labs around the...

Md. Cops: We Nabbed Crafty Serial Killer

He used research, master's degrees to throw them off track

(Newser) - When two mother-daughter pairs were murdered in early 2009 in Largo, Maryland, local detectives and an FBI profiler declared the killings unrelated—because, police have now realized, they were duped by a well-read serial killer with two master's degrees whose extensive research had taught him how to throw detectives off...

Ex-Romanian Dictator, Wife Exhumed

 Ex-Romanian 
 Dictator, Wife 
 Exhumed 
lingering mysteries dept
Jul 21, 2010 8:42 AM CDT

Ex-Romanian Dictator, Wife Exhumed

Romanians suspect Ceausescus not really buried where thought

(Newser) - Taking the country by surprise, forensic scientists today exhumed what are believed to be the bodies of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife to solve the mystery of where they are truly buried. Ceausescu ruled Romania for 25 years before being ousted and executed during the bloody 1989 anti-communist...

Shoddy Bomb Left Scads of Clues

'This guy left everything here but his wallet'

(Newser) - The botched Times Square attack left police with an unexploded bomb and an unusual amount of evidence. “He left more clues than a guy walking into a bank to rob it without a mask," one bomb expert says. "This guy left everything here but his wallet.”...

Study Casts Doubt On DNA-Matching Technique

Mitochondrial DNA found to vary widely within individuals

(Newser) - A DNA-matching technique used in forensics since the mid-1990s is now in question, according to new research. DNA found in cell structures called mitochondria varies greatly between samples from different tissues from the same individual, researchers found, meaning that forensic units may be mistaken when they exclude suspects because a...

Video Games to Help CSI Teams Solve Crimes

Gaming platform will recreate crime scenes

(Newser) - The real-life counterparts of forensics experts on all those CSI shows will soon be getting a helping hand from the world of video games. A team at North Carolina State University is adapting the platform behind games like FusionFall and VooDude to recreate crime scenes, allowing investigators to play out...

Notes Scoured for Watergate Key
 Notes Scoured 
 for Watergate Key 
Nixon's missing 18 1/2 minutes
Nov 19, 2009 8:47 AM CST

Notes Scoured for Watergate Key

Hope to fill in gaps with cutting-edge forensics

(Newser) - Forensic scientists think their latest tools could solve one of the enduring mysteries of American politics: what was said in the 18 1/2 minutes missing from the Watergate tapes? The answer may lie in the yellow notepad on which Nixon's chief of staff, HR Haldeman, took notes on his meeting...

McNair's Girlfriend Fired Gun: Medical Examiner

Gunshot residue tests show Kazemi fired the weapon found at the scene

(Newser) - Sahel Kazemi fired the gun that killed her and Steve McNair, TMZ reports, citing Tennessee's assistant medical examiner. Dr. Feng Li says preliminary lab tests show that gunshot residue from the gun that killed both individuals was found on Kazemi's hand—evidence supported by the crime scene and police interviews....

Suave Knox Blanches at Video of Roommate's Body

(Newser) - Murder suspect Amanda Knox averted her eyes and covered her face with her hands in Italian court today as police video of her slain roommate Meredith Kercher was shown, the Times of London reports. The video detailed the bloody crime scene and Kercher’s naked, lifeless body. While the American...

Crime Labs Employ Shoddy Science: Report

Experts will call for independent agency to oversee forensics

(Newser) - The country's crime labs are seriously deficient, according to a new report that's expected to shake up the field of forensics, the New York Times reports. Evidence portrayed as incontrovertible is often far from it, says the report, which Congress commissioned from the National Academy of Sciences. Forensic analysis often...

Mutant Anthrax Cells Led, Slowly, to Ivins

FBI probe required inventing new type of forensic science

(Newser) - The anthrax poisoning case against Bruce Ivins won't be made in court, but it is compelling, the FBI says. Although the late Army scientist's lawyer dismisses the case as “heaps of innuendo,” federal records reveal a far-reaching, exhaustive investigation that required newly invented technology and depended on mutant...

Tech Helps Prints Tell More of the Story

Snack, drug habits can be traced on bullets, similar surfaces

(Newser) - Advances in fingerprint technology are making the century-old forensic tool even more vital, the Boston Globe reports. Scientists have developed methods that can not only detect traces of food or chemicals in prints, but also single out targets at a confused crime scene. “We're using fingerprints to learn more...

Fingerprint Test Can Now ID What Person Has Touched

Technique detects drugs, explosives

(Newser) - Cutting-edge technology now means fingerprints can reveal much more than just a person's identity, the New York Times reports. A spray developed by US researchers can analyze tiny molecular compounds left behind by the print and tell what materials a person has recently handled—including drugs or explosives. It can...

'Big Dig' Seeks More Manson Bodies
'Big Dig' Seeks More Manson Bodies
May 20, 2008 2:06 PM CDT

'Big Dig' Seeks More Manson Bodies

Investigators pore over cult's Death Valley ranch

(Newser) - Investigators with high-tech equipment and shovels will be spending the next few days combing the Manson Family's desert hide-out for bodies, the Los Angeles Times reports. Rumors that murder victims are buried at the isolated ranch have persisted for decades. Police called in scientists after corpse-sniffing dogs became agitated at...

More Manson Victims?
More Manson Victims?
Mar 16, 2008 9:37 AM CDT

More Manson Victims?

Amateur sleuths and a corpse-sniffing dog search Manson ranch in the Calif. Desert

(Newser) - A rag-tag group of forensic investigators, a gold miner, and a corpse-sniffing dog say they have turned up evidence of long suspected killings by the Manson family in the California desert, AP reports. Using the tools and techniques of chemistry and archeology, the group has concluded that there may be...

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