Examiner consistency in perceptions of fingerprint minutia rarity.

Friction ridge examiners (FREs) identify distinctive features (minutiae) in fingerprints and consider how rare these observed minutiae are in their decisions about both the value of a fingerprint and whether there is enough correspondence between two fingerprints to support an "identification" or "exclusion" decision. But subjective perceptions about the frequency of events and features tend to be inconsistent and dynamic, which means that variable perceptions of minutia frequency may contribute to inconsistencies in FREs' opinions about fingerprint evidence. We surveyed expert FREs at two time points (N = 132; N = 99) to establish how rare FREs believe different minutia types to be and to determine the variation in examiners' perceptions-both between different examiners and across time for the same examiner.

Infection and Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 Lineage (Delta Variant) among Fully Vaccinated Individuals.

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.

Challenges to reasoning in forensic science decisions.

The success of forensic science depends heavily on human reasoning abilities. Although we typically navigate our lives well using those abilities, decades of psychological science research shows that human reasoning is not always rational. In addition, forensic science often demands that its practitioners reason in non-natural ways.

The benefits of errors during training.

Errors are generally not thought of as a positive thing - not in society at large, and especially not in forensic science. However, there is a large body of literature in the field of cognitive science (particularly from psychology and education research) that highlights the benefits that can be gained from using errors made in training to improve learning. Although none of these studies was done directly in the forensic science disciplines, there are nonetheless lessons to be learned about how errors may most effectively be used to maximize their benefits to learning.