If you’re a fan of true crime and tend to tune into any (or all!) of the true-crime podcasts, then you’ve probably come across a case or two that went cold and was then opened a number of years later and solved thanks to advances in forensic technology. It’s wild to think that murderers, even serial killers were at one time getting away with these horrendous acts and not getting caught even when their approach seemed sloppy, but that just goes to show you what can happen when we stay moving forward. Today we’re going to be looking at some gadgets and techniques used in modern-day forensics and we think you’ll be pleased to see we’ve come a long way in a short amount of time. Let’s get started!
DNA Phenotyping
(image via: istock)
Once DNA is gathered at a crime scene, not only can it be matched with a name, but it can even tell investigators about the person’s appearance such as hair, eye, and skin color.
Vehicle Forensics
If you have a car that was made within the last decade, that sucker is full of electronic systems that store information. Vehicle events such as changes in speed are often logged within vehicles; not to mention location data, a no-brainer, such as saved locations and previous destinations; and of course connected devices such as anything connected to Bluetooth or USB ports
Forensic Palynology
(image via: istock)
Forensic palynology is still a pretty new thing to forensic science and it’s guaranteed to blow your mind (or maybe we’re just easily amused?) Palynology is the study of spores, pollen, grains, and seeds, which is used to determine a subject’s location. These tiny little guys tend to cling to our skin and clothing without us even noticing, so you can imagine how easy it would be to get the sample. As we mentioned, this is still a pretty new facet, so scientists have yet to develop a technique to use palynology as evidence.
Social Media Forensics
Sure this seems like an obvious one but think about it in terms of how long we’ve had social media. In the grand scheme of things, not that long. Cases in the 90s certainly weren’t able to use social media evidence in court. Today, however, most judges gladly welcome it. It is, after all, a public record once it’s posted.
Water Isotopes
Isotopes have extremely unique signatures and recent forensic developments have found that scientists can actually determine where water samples from suspects of victims originated. And if there are several samples, these isotopes create a path taken by either the suspect or victim.