Recently, Forensic experts at the University of Abertay Dundee and the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) are creating new forensic techniques within the field of fingerprints. The new research seeks to recover fingerprint ridge detail and impressions from fabrics. This usually is considered a difficult task.
This new technique is known as vacuum metal deposition (VMD). This new technique uses gold and zinc to recover the fingerprint mark that is being investigated as part of the research project. VMD is a highly sensitive technique already used to detect fingerprint marks on smooth surfaces such as carrier bags, plastics and glass.
Joanna Fraser, a forensic sciences researcher at the University of Abertay Dundee, said: "The research uses fine layers of metals to display fingerprints people may have left on fabrics, something which is far harder to do with soft surfaces. The technique has been around since the 1970s and is used on many surfaces but was never widely used on fabrics.”
The process begins when they place the fabrics in a vacuum chamber. Then they heat up the gold to evaporate, and spread a film over the fabric. Then they heat up the zinc, which attaches to the gold where there are no fingerprint residues. This helps see the fingerprints and is shown on the original fabric.
I thought that this article was very interesting. It is fascinating about the new techniques of fingerprinting and how this new development can prove that the suspect committed the crime or not.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131073141.htm
4 comments:
Kyrie Abiko
This article review presents well thought out structure of paragraphs, a good length, and this article is interesting.
Two things I would to help make this review even better would be to indent the paragraphs so the ready knows where a new idea is starting.
Another thing I would like to see would be to give more of a detailed reason why the article was interesting, perhaps mentioning an example of it.
From this I've learned that the concept of the technique of recovering fingerprints from fabric has been around since the 1970s.
One aspect of this review that I found interesting was how Alexandra explained that recovering fingerprints from fabrics used to be a very difficult task. It was smart to add detail on how this new technology has made a process that would otherwise be impossible, possible. Another aspect of this review that I found interesting was her explanation of how this process works. It is necessary to add this information in order to fully understand this break through. The last aspect that I found interesting was the fact that she put a quote in. Articles seem more valid when there is first hand knowledge included.
One way this review could have been made better is if there were some examples of when this technique had been used in cases. This review could also have been made better if there were more opinions on how this technique is being perceived by the forensic community.
I enjoyed this article and was fascinated to learn that there is now an easy way to recover fingerprints from something that previously could not be done.
I like the way she described the process. You didn’t need a lot of technical knowledge to understand how it worked. She explained it in a way that I understood and made me interested in the process. I also liked how she quoted the article when explaining we she was explaining why she liked the article. Not very many reviews quoted their sources even though in most other classes that is important in essays about books. So I think it is good that she used that quote. She also did a good job explaining the importance of the technique for the world and why the article was worth reading.
One thing she could have added was a critic of the article. There was a lot on why the article was important and good but nothing on how it could have been made better. She didn’t even mention what she thought of the article. She also could have given current examples of the process in use. Like an example of a real crime where it helped to catch the murder. There was a lot about the technique but very little on the practical application.
I was impressed by the fact that fingerprints could be recovered even after being wiped away. Most people think that wiping fingerprints makes them unrecoverable. But this article shows that very often your sin will find you out. It is a good thing that the most commonly used murder weapon can more easily be linked to the perpetrator of the crime.
Three aspects of the article which were particularly presented well is that Alex went into great depth with her review; she didn’t skip over that much in the actual article, which I like. Another thing I was impressed by with her review is that she put in a quote from Joanna Fraser. Most people summarize the article, but do not include solid evidence such as quotes. Lastly, I like how Alex summarized the article in an easy-to-read manner.
Two ways in which this article could have been made better is if Alex had only three paragraphs and had them separated for all the requirements Mr. Ippolito requires. Also, I would have liked to see a more thoughtful insight on how it affects humanity and would have also liked to see a critique of the article.
One thing I was really impressed by was this new technique we have, VMD. I’m always happy to see that anyone, but especially forensic scientists, is constantly trying to improve techniques in areas needed. Since receiving fingerprints off of fabric was a difficult task, it’s awesome they created something to make it a little easier.
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