Guest Author • May 03, 2021 •
Carrie Leonetti, University of Auckland By helping identify perpetrators and the remains of victims, forensic DNA analysis holds enormous power to solve crimes. It also has enormous implications for privacy and fairness. But with science and society changing at such a pace, the law can struggle to keep up. It is now 25 years since New Zealand’s Criminal … Read More
Duncan Steel • Nov 22, 2019 •
There are perennial arguments about the circumstances of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, and in particular whether more than one shooter is required by the evidence (such as the Zapruder film). Those who know little about physics frequently claim that the sharp backwards motion of JFK’s head as the fatal shot hit him is proof that there must … Read More
Guest Author • May 02, 2018 •
Nathan Scudder, University of Canberra and Dennis McNevin, University of Technology Sydney This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Technologies for amplifying, sequencing and matching DNA have created new opportunities in genomic science. In this series When DNA Talks we look at the ethical and social implications. When Joseph … Read More
Guest Author • Jan 27, 2015 •
By Katherine Holt Anna Sandiford has written before about how she uses pollen in her forensic science work after watching an episode of ‘Bones’. Pollen also offers a world of other exciting opportunities – from searching for oil or preventing ‘honey fraud’, to tracking goods or fighting the war on drugs. As a palynologist (pollen scientist) I started my career reconstructing … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Jan 07, 2015 •
A couple of weeks ago I came across a TV version of The Poisoner’s Handbook on Sky TV’s History channel. The Poisoner’s Handbook is an excellent book which both Grant and I have previously reviewed (see here and here). It provides a fascinating insight into the development of forensic science in the early 20th century. I was going … Read More
Peter Griffin • May 03, 2013 •
What do jury members ultimately base their decisions on when the evidence is laid out in court? Charlotte Shipman That depends on how compellingly the evidence has been presented says Charlotte Shipman, a Wellington-based 3 News reporter who covered the murder of Scott Guy and the subsequent trial of accused Ewen Macdonald, who in July was found not … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Nov 03, 2011 •
The ridiculously high tech forensic equipment shown on programmes such as CSI always amuses me, with enhancement technologies and their mass spectrometers, gas chromatographs etc which spit out conclusive results within about five minutes. Here is a wonderful parody that makes fun of these exaggerations of the capabilities of forensic analysis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WYKrjcwQXQ&feature=grec_index … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Jun 29, 2011 •
As chemists throughout the world have studied the occurrence of different elemental isotopes and developed new techniques to measure the proportions of isotopes present in different parts of the world, this knowledge has developed into a useful tool for forensic scientists. Referred to as isoscapes, a merging of “isotope” with “landscape” this field allows the geographical origin of a sample … Read More
Peter Griffin • Feb 17, 2010 •
In the age of CSI-style crime dramas it is difficult to imagine a time when DNA evidence wasn’t part of any criminal investigation. But the first court case in New Zealand where DNA evidence was presented happened only as recently as 1990 and on the world stage, the first case involving DNA profiling went to court in the United Kingdom … Read More
Peter Griffin • Jan 30, 2010 •
Today’s Taranaki Daily News carries a piece by Helen Harvey in its feature section looking at Sciblogs and some of its contributors. The feature isn’t online, but you can read it in full below… view full screen for larger text size. [slideshare id=3027093&doc=tdnpiece-100129210305-phpapp01&type=d] … Read More