Forensic Scientist

The effect of the Foo Fighters on the human body and seismic activity

Anna Sandiford • Dec 17, 2011

How does a rock concert affect the human body and how much seismic activity does such a concert produce? Not technically forensic science this one but interesting nonetheless for those of the population who attend rock gigs and are interested in seismology and medical issues. In terms of seismic activity, the answer is that a (read more) … Read More

Death. Destruction. Science. It’s a winner!

Anna Sandiford • Nov 20, 2011

I am feeling very proud of myself because I have apparently just won ScienceTeller 2011′s Best Science Story Competition! I am very excited. I have never won anything before. Entry was open to submissions with a science, wildlife, natural history, health, travel or culture focus, the entries must have been completed on or after 1 (read more) … Read More

A (selection of) day(s) in the life of a forensic scientist

Anna Sandiford • Nov 17, 2011

Lots of people ask me what it’s like on a day-to-day basis being a forensic scientist. If they catch me on a day when it’s been nothing but paperwork then they don’t get a very inspired answer. However, the past week has shown me once again how varied it can be. Take last week for (read more) … Read More

Putting a price on the justice system

Anna Sandiford • Nov 13, 2011

I have already mentioned that many other forensic scientists around the world think that the British government’s decision to close the Forensic Science Service (FSS) was poor – not least because of the loss of knowledge from senior scientists and the lack of them having the time to transfer that knowledge to younger scientists because [...] … Read More

Challenging forensic science independence

Anna Sandiford • Oct 12, 2011

Probably one of the worst decisions made by the British government was to shut down the Forensic Science Service (FSS) – in my opinion. Not only has a raft of experience been lost, a world-leading research organisation has been shut down. This is not news. What is news is that the Metropolitan Police is now [...] … Read More

Emotion and personality in science

Anna Sandiford • Oct 06, 2011

Following from an earlier post of mineÂ Is there room for emotion in science, Victoria University is running its very first Tell Us A Story event. The website tells us that: This is not an ordinary science presentation event! The aim of this challenge is to woo the audience with stories of inspiration, passion, heart-ache, struggle, [...] … Read More

Why it pays to check the work of the other side: the freeing of Amanda Knox

Anna Sandiford • Oct 04, 2011

In one of the world’s most high-profile cases, Amanda Knox was today acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher. I don’t have personal knowledge of the case but if the media reports are to be believed, inappropriate collection techniques and poor laboratory standards were contributory to the DNA results being deemed unreliable. An extract from the BBC says: “Prosecutors said … Read More

Unanswered questions for Brent and David Tong

Anna Sandiford • Oct 04, 2011

I apologise – I have neglected to answer questions about my book, Expert Witness, which was recently given away by Sciblogs and that Grant Jacobs reviewed.Â Some more questions are as follows: Does forensic science only refer to science used for court cases, or are there other forms of investigation to which it pertains? Brent [...] … Read More

Is there room for emotion in science?

Anna Sandiford • Sep 30, 2011

Last night, I looked at Auckland city from a new perspective: the top floor of Auckland Museum. Fantastic views of the 360-degree variety. Aside from that, I was there for the Auckland SCANZ panel discussion. All the speakers were excellent but, being a geologist by training (and secretly still am, in my head), I was particularly interested in the … Read More

About Forensic Scientist

Forensic Scientist is the blog of Dr Anna Sanford, a forensic scientist who has worked on high profile criminal cases and is the author of Expert Witness.

The views expressed on this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the owners of SciBlogs.co.nz, the Science Media Centre or the Royal Society of New Zealand.

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