Real-life crime scene analysis of bloodstains, fingerprints, and other evidence does not match the speed and certainty on television shows such as CSI. But thanks to advances in chemistry, fact is catching up with fiction as researchers develop faster, more sensitive forensics tools, according to an article scheduled for the March 24 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.
The article, written by C&EN Senior Editor Mitch Jacoby, describes up and coming forensics tools just unveiled at Pittcon, a major laboratory science conference held earlier this month in New Orleans.
These new tools include a highly-sensitive method for identifying the specific dyes used to color acrylics, cotton, nylon, and other types of fibers, a technique that could help distinguish between fibers that appear similar. Other innovative tools include a handheld spectrometer for on-site detection of explosives and illegal drug residues and a long-lasting fluorescent dye solution that allows a longer, more detailed analysis of bloodstains than do conventional dyes.
The popularization of forensics on television has also spurred a new appreciation for this science among college students and the general public, the article suggests. But instant crime-solving remains the stuff of fiction. “Real chemists can’t always come up with solutions quite that fast. But they’re working on it,” Jacoby notes in the article.
Source: ACS
Related stories:
New book highlights status of research into carbon nanotubes
'Applied Physics of Carbon Nanotubes' is aimed at scientists, engineers and investors
Since their discovery 14 years ago, carbon nanotubes have captured the imagination of scientists and lay people alike. The science of nanotubes almost seems more science fiction than science. These structures, so minuscule they cannot be seen, are stronger than diamonds. They are formed from organic material but act as metals or semi-conductors. As such, nanotubes offer great potential in electronics, lasers and medicine.
When computers play games, artificial intelligence is the key to victory
From mahjong to Monopoly, bridge to Bingo, Sorry to Scrabble—games are serious fun. And with their diverse rules, they're also the perfect tools for exploring concepts in artificial intelligence (AI) and new approaches to programming, say Stanford computer scientists.
New cost-effective means to reconstruct virus populations
Researchers from the United States and Switzerland have developed mathematical and statistical tools for reconstructing viral populations using pyrosequencing, a novel and effective technique for sequencing DNA. They describe their findings in an article published May 9th in the open-access journal
PLoS Computational Biology.
Factors affecting survival, disability of extremely premature infants identified
Gestational age has long been the factor most commonly used to predict whether an extremely low-birth-weight infant survives and thrives, but four additional factors that can help predict a preemie’s outcome have been identified by the National Institutes of Health Neonatal Research Network, of which Yale is a member.
How stereotypes can lead to success
Stereotypes can boost as well as hinder our chances of success, according to psychologists from the University of Exeter and St Andrews University. Writing in the new edition of Scientific American Mind (out in the UK 22 April 2008), they argue that the power of stereotypes to affect our performance should not be underestimated.
We're All Stars Now: Reality TV, Web 2.0 and Mediated Identities
A new study of television viewing and communication patterns among young adults by University at Buffalo researchers has found a relationship between reality television viewing and "promiscuous friending" on popular social networking sites such as Facebook.
Avoiding wind tunnels, computer simulations pave way for hypersonic flight
A two-hour plane flight between Tokyo and New York sounds like science fiction, but methods developed by Princeton engineers to describe turbulence at extreme conditions may aid the design of aircraft with that kind of speed, 15 times faster than sound.
Team simulates first merger of 3 black holes on a supercomputer
The same team of astrophysicists that cracked the computer code simulating two black holes crashing and merging together has now, for the first time, caused a three-black-hole collision.