The Royal Institution - Christmas Lectures 2022 - Secrets of Forensic science

The Royal Institution's 2022 Christmas Lectures - Secrets of forensic science, were broadcast on the BBC in late December. This collection of resources from the STEM Learning digital resource collection can support themes addressed in this three lectures series presented by Professor Dame Sue Black:

  • What human bones can reveal about the age, sex, diet, ancestry and medical history of a person
  • Identifying a person from one fragment and identifying the individuals found in a mass grave from the bones recovered
  • The use of fingerprinting and DNA testing in court cases 
  • How to identify living people from their veins, wrinkles and memories.

During the lectures the professor reveals why people should not believe everything they see in TV crime dramas and highlights some stand-out cases from her remarkable career. She explores the major advances in forensic science, some of its limitations, and what the future might hold.

Further details about the lectures can be found on the Royal Institution website.
 

Resources

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Cracking Crime Faster

A case study from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which looks at the forensic evidence and intelligence that are left at crime scenes by footwear, gloves, tyres and fingers. New Latent Image Markup and Analysis (LIMA) software provides a fast, accurate way of transmitting and...

New Light on Crime Scenes

A case study from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) archives which considers fingerprinting and DNA profiling, the cornerstones of crime detection. Now new techniques, pioneered by EPSRC-supported researchers, are set to take these methods to a whole new level. The Light It Up project...

Investigating a Crime Scene

Produced by the Learning Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), this case study looks at the theme of harnessing technology. Learners on a BTEC level two diploma in applied science course at Mid Kent College Medway carried out a crime scene investigation as part of their ‘Investigating a crime scene’ unit by Edexcel...

Crime Detection

This Nuffield Working with Science unit featured experiments derived from forensic techniques but could only give the 'flavour' of a scientific investigation of a crime. The unit aimed to emphasise the basic needs, in a scientific investigation of evidence, of accurate...

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