2015/05/27

Cosmos Magazine May 25, 2015: The germ at the scene of the crime

The germs you  pick up at a crime scene may one day land you in jail. Microbiologist Jack Gilbert and his team at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago have shown that bacteria clinging to the sole of your shoe could be a microscopic smoking gun that tells crime scene investigators where you’ve been. They report their work in Microbiome in May.

“It’s a very interesting field that has significant potential – I can see application in the national security and military space,” director of the University of Technology Sydney Centre for Forensic Science Claude Roux says.

We’ve long known that clues invisible to the naked eye can be used to trace criminals or to place them at a crime scene. These include tiny particles such as powder, dust, pollen or paint that inadvertently stick to a person’s hands or clothes. Then in the 1980s DNA sequencing revolutionised forensic investigation  – the technique has been used to identify criminals and to prove the innocence of the falsely accused. more