Forensics
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Laser Microdissection Publication List
This monthly updated reference list demonstrates the major application fields for laser microdissection in life science research.Read article -
Forensics: How to Gather Evidence from Hair, Fibers, Paint, Explosives, and Insects Fast and Easily with Digital Microscopy
Digital microscopes have no eyepieces and the image is observed directly on a monitor. They are very popular for a variety of applications in multiple fields. State-of-the-art digital microscopes, such as the Leica DVM6, allow an efficient workflow for forensic analysis. Examples of how forensic scientists can gather evidence from hair, fibers, paint layers, explosive residues/small particles, and insects efficiently using the Leica DVM6 digital microscope are described in this report.Read article -
Forensics: How to Gather Evidence from Ballistics, Tool Marks, Questioned Documents, Counterfeiting, and Forgery Fast and Easily with Digital Microscopy
The examples reported here demonstrate how digital microscopy enables forensic scientists to gather and compare evidence from ballistics and tool marks or counterfeited money, credit cards, and documents, more efficiently. Images and videos clearly show how to use the digital microscope to perform forensics investigations and how you speed up your workflow with the help of practical features, such as a convenient way to change magnification rapidly over the full range, tilting, sample rotation, and versatile illumination.Read article -
Image Gallery: Digital Microscopy in Forensics – Examples From Ballistics, Document, and Trace Evidence Investigations
Forensic experts work with a broad range of microscopes to examine evidence from firearms and tool marks, documents, forensic or legal medicine, hair and fibers as well as glass and paint. Digital microscopes support many of these investigations, in which the materials can be very different in character. This image gallery shows examples what digital microscopy can reveal in typical forensics’ samples.Read article -
125 Years of Comparison Microscopy – From the "camera lucida" to the Automated Comparison Bridge
To be able to optically compare two objects with scientific accuracy, it must be possible to view them at the same time. This is particularly true for comparing small objects that can only be visualized with the aid of an optical magnification system. If you only have one microscope and have to look at the objects alternately, you need an excellent memory and can never rule out the risk of judgment errors, especially when examining objects with only minor differences in structure, color or profile.Read article -
In the Catacombs of the Capuchin Monastery in Palermo
It has always been a deeply rooted human need to give life a meaning after death. At the end of the 16th century, the friars of the Capuchin monastery in Palermo, Italy, began preserving corpses by embalming them.Read article -
Every Clue Counts – Forensics Inconceivable Without Microscopy
There is no crime without clues. They may be obvious, like a cartridge case at the scene of the crime or clear signs of crowbar damage on a door. But sometimes, clues are microscopically small. Besides the classic fingerprints, perpetrators also leave hairs or fiber traces.Read article -
Even Insect Fragments Throw Light on How Crimes Are Committed: How Forensic Biologist Dr. Mark Benecke Gains Insights
Many people know Germany’s most famous forensic biologist, Dr. Mark Benecke from Cologne, from TV documentaries showing how crimes are solved. Benecke is a welcome guest on talk shows on topics such as forensic trace analysis, murder or the depths of the human psyche in general. He also enjoys an excellent international reputation. However, Mark Benecke’s normal working day bears little resemblance to the scenes shown in TV crime drama series.Read article -
How a Fingerprint Is Traced to the Person Who Made It – Interactive Microscope System Facilitates Dactyloscopist Training
“We have to take your fingerprints.” This sentence is spoken in nearly every TV crime drama to a suspect sitting in the interrogation room. But what exactly is it that makes a fingerprint so valuable for detectives in real life? How do fingerprint experts, known as dactyloscopists, perform their jobs?Read article -
Genuine or Fake
ID cards, driving licenses, birth certificates, A-level exams – the potential for individual perpetrators or gangs to gain advantages by forging documents is vast. And the more sophisticated the security standards, the better equipped experts have to be in order to clearly differentiate between genuine documents and fakes.Read article -
Collecting "Funny Money"
Nobody wants counterfeit money in their wallet. Even counterfeiters want to get rid of their own creations as quickly as possible. However, experts work intensively to identify counterfeit money on behalf of the law. Martin Weber of the National Analysis Center of the German Bundesbank (Federal Bank) in Mainz is such an expert on forged banknotes.Read article -
Applications of Laser Microdissection
Laser microdissection and laser micromanipulation are suitable for gaining a differentiated insight into the function of genes and proteins, and are used for a wide range of applications in neurobiology and immunology as well as in the developmental and cell biology of animal and plant organisms.Read article -
The Future of Forensic Training Programs
Wayne Buttermore, Manager Regional Sales Industry at Leica Microsystems, interviewed Skip Palenik to hear his perspective on the benefits of continuing education in forensic science.Read article -
Science Serving Justice
Wayne Buttermore, Marketing Manager for Forensic Microscopy, Leica Microsystems, had the distinct honor of interviewing Kevin Lothridge, Executive Director of the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) to hear his perspectives on continuing education in the forensic science community.Read article