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Articles on Forensic science

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Disappeared: relatives protest at the headquarters of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Bogota, Colombia, August 2021. EPA-EFE/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda

The science that is helping researchers find the ‘disappeared’ in Latin America

Researchers are using modern forensic techniques to find the bodies of victims of civil conflict in Latin America.
A man of genius – but his ideas were not to the benefit of all humankind. Mondadori Portfolio/Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images

Francis Galton pioneered scientific advances in many fields – but also founded the racist pseudoscience of eugenics

Smart people can have really bad ideas – like selectively breeding human beings to improve the species. Put into practice, Galton’s concept proved discriminatory, damaging, even deadly.
Even identical twins have different fingerprints. El Greco/Shutterstock.com

How did I get my own unique set of fingerprints?

You’ve had your own personal set of fingerprints since before you were born, and they’ll be with you throughout your whole life.
Maggots are a major part of the puzzle when it comes to collecting forensic evidence. Shutterstock

Trust Me, I’m An Expert: forensic entomology, or what bugs can tell police about when someone died

Trust Me, I’m An Expert: forensic entomology, or what bugs can tell police about when someone died The Conversation, CC BY58.8 MB (download)
James Wallman is one of Australia's few forensic entomologists. It’s his job to unpack the tiny clues left behind by insects that can help police solve crimes.
Red Cross forensic specialist Stephen Fonseca, right, searches for bodies in a field of ruined maize in Magaru, Mozambique, after Cyclone Idai, April 4, 2019. AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Humanitarian forensic scientists trace the missing, identify the dead and comfort the living

Meet the unsung aid workers who put their lives on the line during war and natural disaster to make sure the dead are treated with respect – and that their grieving families get closure.

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