9781422282939

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S T E M I N C U R R E N T E V E N T S

Solving the Crime HighDefinition Surveying is just one of the latest tools usedby forensic scientists to take the guesswork out of criminal cases. Although forensic science has been around in one form or another for hundreds of years, we live today in a golden age of forensics, dominat- ed by new science and mind-boggling technology. At its core, forensics is the scientific method of gathering and examining evidence that prosecutors can then use in a court of law. It encompasses such dis-

Father of Forensic Science

Long before TV shows CSI and Bones , the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes was the first to make forensics popular. The Adven- tures of Sherlock Holmes , written by Arthur Conan Doyle, so inspired French criminologist Edmond Locard that he decided to build a crime lab in Paris to study crime scene evi- dence. Locard, known as the Father of Forensic Science, said criminals always leave bits of clues at a crime scene.

ciplines as toxicology , ballistics, and fingerprints. It also includes DNA profiling, which uses variations in a person’s genetic code not only to identify individuals and put them behind bars, but also to clear those wrongly convicted of a crime. MuchMore Not only is forensics used to enforce the law, but scientists also use it to protect public health and to tell who is right and wrong in civil disputes. Some scientists use forensics to piece together the past when they discover age-old bones and artifacts. Other scientists study how and why buildings, bridges, and other struc- tures collapse into heaps of dust, brick, and steel.