The article I read talked about the many different ways forensic science is progressing today, and how this progress is allowing criminal investigators to solve cases faster and more efficiently.  To begin with, forensic scientists are most pleased with a new test that can determine a person's ancestry using DNA.  This test is executed through a program known as DNAWitness, which can distinguish between European, African American, Asian, and Native American DNA.  This enables scientists to establish what a person looks like, even if their DNA is not in any crime database, and no witnesses have seen the perpetrator leave evidence.  This enabled police to solve a series of crimes in Baton Rouge, connecting the deaths of many blonde women to a single serial killer, whose ancestry was determined to be African-American.  This test helped narrow their field of suspects, and eventually led them to the actual criminal.  Criminal investigators are currently working on a test that they hope will enable them to detect hair color and even facial characteristics.

In addition to this, scientists at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute have a method for extracting DNA from the microscopic remnants of skin left behind when a person touches an object.  The test can be performed in minutes at the crime scene, and can also work for blood, hair, saliva, or even a flake of dandruff.  Although the test is not widely accessible by crime labs, it is still very helpful and upon perfection could aid in many different cases.

These two new tests together are enabling forensic investigators and criminalists to solve cases more accurately and quickly than previously thought possible.  Thus, these new technologies are a huge boon for criminal investigations, and can potentially bring many criminals to justice in the near future