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A database of ink profiles is being put together at the Midwest Forensics Resource Center at Iowa State University which will allow scientists to combine mass spectrometry with a new sampling technique called Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART). This new process will help identify the chemical makeup of ink much more quickly and in much more detail than was previously possible and should prove to be of invaluable assistance to forensic scientists attempting to identify inks on fraudulent documents.

Came across a very interesting article on the science of arson and fire investigation. The article highlights the fact that new methods of analysis and computer simulation are transforming arson investigators' understanding of how fires start and spread.

Ludwig van Beethoven, one the greatest composers in the history of music died on March 26, 1827, aged just 56. According to forensic scientist Christian Reiter, Beethoven's untimely demise was a result of lead poisoning accidentally administered by his own doctor.

Forensic scientists have devised a remarkable technique that appears to be able to link digital photographs to the camera that took the picture.

The fascinating range of investigations to which forensic science can be applied never ceases to amaze me. This was recently confirmed when I read that the Mercer Tool Museum in Pennsylvania (or should that be Transylvania!) had approached scientists to find out if their vampire hunter's kit was a fake.

Very useful forensic science video produced by the University of Maryland in 2003. Professors Marilyn London and Tom Mauriello join host Andrew Wolvin, Ph.D., to discuss how scientists assist in criminal investigations.

How To Commit The Perfect Murder was the title of a recently aired programme in the current series of Horizon. (Horizon is an excellent long running TV science based show produced by the BBC).

In an ancient Inca cemetery just outside Lima, Peru, archeologists made a disturbing discovery: a cluster of skeletons dumped in shallow, hasty graves, victims of brutal injuries. Among the crushed cheekbones and snapped limbs, the scientists find a skull bearing two round puncture holes. Could this be New World's first gunshot victim?