You’ve seen the forensic recap of the early part of the year? Well what about post Olympics? What scientific stories tickled me most then? Part one found here: Part 1 The first part of the year took us up to the summer of sport. As those warm feelings from…
Tag: forensic
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The year in forensic science – 2012 part 1
What have the hot stories been? What about my personal forensic science highlights of 2012? Read on! The year 2012 got off to a flying forensic start. On the 1st of January my paper on the analysis of hair samples from children living in methamphetamine labs was accepted into…
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A forensic scientist’s tales from the courtroom
I’ve been asked many times what it’s like to give evidence in court. How nervous do you get? Do you get tied up in knots by smart lawyers every time? The truth is it is often very dull and repetitive. There is a pattern to court appearances in my experience. You…
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Christmas gifts for the forensic science geek in your life
It’s December already, have you done your shopping? Nor me… So what do you buy the forensic science geek in your life? Here’s some top tips… csi kit A junior crime scene investigator’s dream – the ‘New Scotland Yard Forensic Set’, pictured above. A kit with all that…
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Forensic Science Research – ‘Accredited Provider’
Last week I summed up what I thought the current climate looked like in forensic science research. This provoked some discussion through LinkedIn and twitter, mostly agreement. I thought I would try and develop a couple of ideas of how we can move forward. Meet the ‘Accredited Forensic Research Provider’. At the bottom of my previous blog I suggested…
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Forensic Science Research – What Research?
On Monday I travelled down to London for the Forensic Science Society’s ‘Education and Industry Forum’ at the Home Office. I wanted to find out what the current state of play was and who is doing what? And crucially how do I get my hands on the money? The meeting…
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Methamphetamine lab children – exposed to drug fumes
In New Zealand there is a big methamphetamine problem. In the years from 2000 to 2009 the number of clandestine laboratories found and raided by Police increased from 9 to 135. In a third of these cases there are either children present when raided or who live at that…
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Drugs in hair – a brief intro
Much of my research has been on the detection of drugs of abuse in hair samples. My most recent paper in this area focused on children who had been living in drug factories (that’s another story!). This originally appeared on the site www.fortox.org early 2012. Of all the common biological matrices for…
Why study Forensic Science? Undergraduates tell all…
Last week I decided to have a quick poll amongst my Forensic Science first year students. The academic year is in full swing, the students are settling into life as undergraduates and I wanted to know why were they here? What had made them chose to study forensic science? …