Visitors go detective using ’chemical photography’ at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

Scientists invite visitors to play super sleuth using CSI-style to discover microscopic traces of chemicals in fingerprints - News Release

For Immediate Release:
Friday 25 June 2010

Scientists will invite visitors to play super-sleuth, using a CSI-style chemical photographic technique to discover what microscopic traces of chemicals found on their fingerprints can reveal about their day-to-day lives, at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, which opens to the public today in London.

The researchers’ exhibit explores the many uses of chemical imaging technology - from saving the nation’s art treasures, to fighting disease, to improving the way pharmaceuticals are made. As part of the exhibit, visitors will be able to see how chemical photography technology can be used in forensics.

The team of Imperial College London researchers has applied an approach that combines infrared light with array detectors, to create chemical photographs that show the distribution and types of chemicals that are found as residues in microscopic traces on all fingerprints. The team says their technique could one day enable forensic experts to gain valuable information about suspected criminals from their fingerprints, such as their gender, diet and daily habits. The technique may also reveal whether criminals have come into contact with explosives, firearms, biological and chemical weapons.

"Just a tiny fraction of a gram of chemical residue in fingerprints is enough to reveal a myriad of facts about the person who has left the fingerprint behind. This is because our technique enables us to scrutinise the chemistry of residues found in a fingerprint. It is an extremely powerful crime-fighting tool that even allows us to glean chemical information from fingerprints that have been destroyed by arson, which is hard to do using conventional techniques. We are really excited about demonstrating our technology to visitors at the Summer Science Exhibition, and showing the potential of this crime-busting tool."

In the video (below right), Professor Sergei Kazarian talks about the ’Chemical Photography’ exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.

Professor Sergei Kazarian, organiser of the exhibit from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology at Imperial College London, says:

At the exhibit, the scientists will invite visitors to look at their own fingerprints using the chemical photography technique. The team will look at a partial section of the fingerprint using an infrared imaging spectrometer, which irradiates the sample with infrared light to detect the chemical composition of the fingerprint. An array detector will image the types and distribution of chemicals, which will be colour-coded and displayed as a chemical photograph on a large screen for visitors. For example, the technology may detect certain amino acids that indicate dietary habits, such as whether a visitor is a meat eater. Or it may pick up on small traces of everyday chemicals that people may have come into contact with recently, such as ibuprofen or paracetemol.

The researchers will also demonstrate how infrared spectroscopy can be used in research to help scientists identify different items by their chemistry. For instance, visitors can analyse the composition of their own clothes in simple experiments to determine what fibres they are made of.

Members of the public will also be able to look inside of an infrared spectrometer to view key components of the machine to see how it works.

The scientists will be on hand at the exhibition, which runs from 25 June to 4 July, to talk visitors about their ’chemical photography’ exhibit.