Optimisation and validation of cost-effective water-based solutions of acid fuchsin for detecting fingermarks in blood.

Fingermark impressions in blood are commonly encountered at violent crime scenes and represent a critical trace that can link an individual to the scene. A range of techniques are available for detecting and enhancing bloody impressions; however, many chemical methods involve using hazardous solvents or require alternative light sources to visualise fluorescence. This is particularly challenging for bloody impressions on dark substrates.

A novel diagnostic gene region for distinguishing between two pest fruit flies: Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) and Bactrocera neohumeralis (Hardy) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Bactrocera tryoni and Bactrocera neohumeralis are morphologically similar sibling pest fruit fly species that possess different biological attributes, geographic distributions, and host ranges. The need to differentiate between the two species is critical for accurate pest status assessment, management, biosecurity, and maintenance of reference colonies. While morphologically similar, adults may be separated based on subtle characters; however, some characters exhibit intraspecific variability, creating overlap between the two species.

Preparation of a low-cost fingerprint powder that harnesses white light to emit long-lived phosphorescence.

An inexpensive, commercially available doped strontium aluminate phosphor with long-lived afterglow has been prepared and assessed in the role of a luminescent fingerprint dusting powder. Blue, green, and aqua phosphorescence persisting for ca. 30 s was obtainable from treated fingermarks after charging the powders with the white light (400-700 nm) setting of a forensic light source.

Automated 'lights-out' searching of all recovered fingerprints: Review of the current workflow for latent fingerprint processing in Queensland, Australia.

The process of linking an offender to a crime scene via their fingerprints has historically required significant human effort to compare latent fingerprints recovered from the scene with known fingerprints of a suspect. Increasing the speed of such comparisons, whilst maintaining accuracy and reliability and minimising error, is crucial for providing rapid intelligence to police investigators. One major opportunity for streamlining fingerprint examination is the adaptation of 'lights-out' technology to the comparison and matching of latent fingerprints.