Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Fingerprinting

The study of fingerprints just got a whole lot more revealing. In some cases, it's impossible to match the prints left at a scene with a suspect- the perosn may never have committed a crime. However, new techniques will give detectives much more information to go on.

"New forensic techniques now mean they can be used to determine whether a person is a smoker, uses drugs, and even which aftershave they wear - information that could help narrow down suspects."

The reason for this is that a fingerprint contains a mix of skin cells, sweat secretions and substances picked up by touch. The new technique has already been used to identify a hair product used by a test subject. Small details which may help police narrow down the list of suspects.

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