Scientist Develops New Technique To Track Down Burglars

This is just like CSI - but in Australia! 

A young scientist, Dr Kang Liang had his home broken into but police can't find any fingerprints at the scene.

So Dr Liang just decided to develop a new technique that will allow forensics to better capture fingerprints and make them glow at the scene of the crime.

Brilliance.

His research, published in the journal Materials Science this week, will allow for forensic police to "dust" for prints using a drop of liquid containing luminescent crystals. Applied to fingerprints, the crystals create a greater contrast between the mark left by a criminal and the surface enabling higher resolution images to be taken for easier and more precise analyses.

The crystals attach themselves to the proteins and peptides of the fingerprint residue and glow under ultraviolet light, making detection even easier.

"While police and forensics experts use a range of different techniques, sometimes in complex cases evidence needs to be sent off to a lab where heat and vacuum treatment is applied," Dr Liang said.

"Our method reduces these steps, and because it's done on the spot, a digital device could be used at the scene to capture images of the glowing prints to run through the database in real time."

"When my house was broken into, and knowing that dusting has been around for a long time, I was inspired to see how new innovative materials could be applied to create even better results," Dr Liang said.