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The unique mix of bacteria you leave behind wherever you go might be used to identify you. Touching a phone, or just walking through a room, will leave behind hundreds of microbial species, sometimes including Staphylococcus aureus (inset).PHOTOS: (LEFT TO RIGHT) SCIENCE SOURCE; MATTHEW RAKOLA One morning last summer, evolutionary biologist Jose Lopez was having coffee on the back porch of his house in Hollywood, Florida, when two burglars climbed in through a front window and did what home invaders usually do: They rifled through drawers, disconnected the TV to carry it off, and even opened the fridge to...

Coalfire Systems, a highly accredited forensic analysis and cybersecurity company that does work for Fortune 500 companies, issued a report Monday which found that 10 full-footage videos the Center for Medical Progress recorded while undercover at Planned Parenthood facilities and related locations “are authentic and show no evidence of manipulation or editing.” “This conclusion is supported by the consistency of the video file date and time stamps, the video timecode, as well as the folder and file naming scheme,” the report states. “The uniformity between the footage from Investigator 1’s camera and Investigator 2’s camera also support the evidence that...

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Colorado, Boulder, have developed a statistical model that allows them to tell where a dust sample came from within the continental United States based on the DNA of fungi found in the sample. The primary goal of the research was to develop a new forensic biology tool for law enforcement or archaeologists. "But it may also give us a greater understanding of the invisible ecosystems of microbial life that we know are all around us, but that we don't fully comprehend," says Neal Grantham, a Ph.D. student in statistics at...

Could students' art solve mystery of unidentified bodies?NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) - Students at the New York Academy of Art are combining art and science in hopes of solving mysteries. They are trying to help police identify people who died in New York but were never identified. If you walk down Franklin Street in Tribeca and look into the window of the New York Academy of Art you will see faces staring right back at you. These sculptures are not just works of art each head represents a real person, on display here to try to solve a mystery. New...

Bone chemistry sheds light on the monarch's shifting diet throughout his brief life Richard III was only 32 years old when he was struck down at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. But according to new research, the King of England at least enjoyed some good eating throughout his life—especially in the few years leading up to his death. Scientists from the British Geological Survey and the University of Leicester analyzed Richard III's teeth, his femur and his ribs to see what they could reveal about the monarch's diet, Phys.org reports. They used isotope analysis to identify chemical signatures...

A woman's body is found in London. DNA turns up a hit, yet the suspect apparently died weeks before the alleged victim. Here, forensic scientist Dr Mike Silverman tells the story of one of the strangest cases of his career. It was a real-life mystery that could have come straight from the pages of a modern-day detective novel. During the late 1970s... the idea of being able to identify someone from a few tiny drops of blood seemed like something out of science fiction” A woman had been brutally murdered in London and biological material had been found under...

"I was in shock. I was outraged and I just assumed kits were being tested," said actress Mariska Hargitay about the thousands of rape kits in Detroit and across the country that have been left sitting in storage without being processed, allowing rapists to remain free to attack again. And they often do. Hargitay joined Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to announce legislation that will soon be introduced to state lawmakers that is aimed at setting guidelines and deadlines for rape kits tests to be processed. "Testing rape kits is vital for keeping rapists off the street," said Hargitay during...

Juarez's 'Dr. Frankenstein' is breathing new life into unsolved murders Just outside of Juarez a group of mothers frustrated by local law enforcement and desperate to find their missing loved ones --- decides to search the outskirts of their neighborhood themselves. They are looking for unmarked graves. And it doesn't take long before fears are realized. The wave of violence that at one time made Juarez the most dangerous city in the world is washing away. But, there are painful reminders: unidentified bodies, unsolved murders and reports of people who have simply disappeared. Marta Rincon’s daughter disappeared five years ago....

All in the eyes: corneal reflections in photos can help solve crimes Tuesday 31 December 2013 - 8am PST The eyes are not just the mirror of the soul, they also mirror the world around us. Now, a UK team has found that today's high-resolution digital images are now so detailed, they can enlarge the eyes in people's photos and retrieve images of out-of-shot bystanders reflected on their corneas. Combine this with the fact human beings are very efficient at recognizing faces, even from poor quality images, and you have the makings of a rich forensic resource for solving crimes....

Dubai court sentences three copper cable thieves to one year in jailThree Bangladeshi labourers were sentenced to one year in jail for stealing lightning protection cables made of copper from the roof a building. Police found fingerprints of the culprits in a building in the Russian cluster of International City in Dubai where the theft had taken place. “We rushed to the location and could lift some finger prints and so we could reach MA, 25,” testified a police officer. After his arrest, MA admitted to the theft and lead police to his accomplices NM, 26, and FH, 22. Police...

In the woods outside Huntsville, Texas, scientists are trying to determine whether they can use the microbes that live on the human body as microscopic witnesses that could help catch criminals. It's a strange scene at the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility. At first, it's easy to miss the human bodies scattered among the tall pines, wild grass and weeds. "We hope microbes can tell crime scene investigators how long a person has been dead," Sibyl Bucheli of Sam Houston State University explains, as she leads a group of researchers and visitors from NPR through a tall, chain-link fence...

The markings the fatal bullet left on Trayvon Martin's sweatshirt and body supports George Zimmerman's account that Martin was on top and leaning over him when Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, a leading forensics expert testified today. "The medical evidence is consistent with his statement," Dr. Vincent Di Maio told the Florida court. Di Maio said that the pattern of powder burns on Martin's sweatshirt and skin indicated that the shirt was two to four inches away from Martin's chest when he was shot by Zimmerman. "Mr. Martin was over him, leaning forward," he said. "If you are lying on...

Surgeon: Pneumonia likely killed 'Stonewall' Jackson Legendary Confederate general died 150 years ago Friday Historians and doctors have debated for decades what medical complications caused the death of legendary Confederate fighter Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, felled by friendly fire from his troops during the Civil War. Shot three times while returning from scouting enemy lines in the Virginia wilderness, Jackson was badly wounded in the left arm by one of the large bullets the night of May 2, 1863. Blood gushed from a severed artery. It took at least two hours to get him to a field hospital, and Jackson...

More than 300 convicted inmates have been released from Massachusetts state prisons in the US as a result of the September 2012 arrest and subsequent indictment of Annie Dookhan, who worked in a Department of Public Health state laboratory and allegedly falsified evidence used in criminal cases. Now the scandal has grown with the prosecution of another Massachusetts state lab chemist for tampering with evidence and stealing drugs seized as evidence. Sonja Farak, who worked at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory in Amherst, was charged with tampering with four drug samples stored at the lab on 1 April. In two...

Thousands of criminal cases at the state and local level may have relied on exaggerated testimony or false forensic evidence to convict defendants of murder, rape and other felonies. The forensic experts in these cases were trained by the same elite FBI team whose members gave misleading court testimony about hair matches and later taught the local examiners to follow the same suspect practices, according to interviews and documents. In July, the Justice Department announced a nationwide review of all cases handled by the FBI Laboratory’s hair and fibers unit before 2000 — at least 21,000 cases — to determine...

Israeli archaeologist digs into Sobibor death camp in search of Nazi killing machines Yoram Haimi's biggest breakthrough yet: mapping of what the Germans called the Himmelfahrsstrasse, or the 'Road to Heaven,' a path upon which the inmates were marched naked into the gas chambers. When Israeli archaeologist Yoram Haimi decided to investigate his family's unknown Holocaust history, he turned to the skill he knew best: He began to dig. After learning that two of his uncles were murdered in the infamous Sobibor death camp, he embarked on a landmark excavation project that is shining new light on the workings of...

Bryan Sitch, curator of archaeology at the museum, said it now appeared the man had been beaten about the head, garrotted and then beheaded The head of an Iron Age man who died almost 2,000 years ago has been scanned in a Manchester hospital to shed light on how he died. Worsley Man is thought to have lived around 100 AD when Romans occupied much of Britain. Since its discovery in a Salford peat bog in 1958, the head has been kept at Manchester Museum on Oxford Road. The scans at the Manchester Children's Hospital have now revealed more details...

Faces of Civil War sailors from sunken USS Monitor reconstructed in hopes of identifying them Faces of 2 USS Monitor crewmembers reconstructed Recovery: The turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor is lifted out of the ocean off the coast of Hatteras, N.C. on August 5, 2002 RICHMOND, Va. — When the turret of the Civil War ironclad Monitor was raised from the ocean bottom, two skeletons and the tattered remnants of their uniforms were discovered in the rusted hulk of the Union Civil War ironclad, mute and nameless witnesses to the cost of war. A rubber comb was...

Prosecutors cited a report prepared by a software program called CacheBack, which the state argued showed 84 web searches for chloroform being made on the Anthony computer. The defense would later contradict the CacheBack report with a separate report generated by another program, NetAnalysis. That report returned only one search result for chloroform. Last week, CacheBack CEO John Bradley posted a statement on his website, acknowledging that the 84-search result was an error, and criticizing the state for its use of flawed data. It was Bradley who introduced those results as a witness for the defense. On the stand, he...

My last post here about Don was Sept 2009. Justice for Don (Berkebile), Retired Smithsonian Curator Homicide. At that point we still had hope that those responsible would be held accountable for our cousin's death. It didn't happen. Don's estate has been finally settled after having to defend itself against the man who killed him. A counter suit was filed and both suits were eventually dropped without this man benefiting financially. Thankfully that was a good thing. But no criminal charges were ever brought against this man and due to 'fill in the blank' the authorities appear to consider the...