Scientists offer up new fingerprint technique that reveals explosive and drug-based compounds. Image: KevinDooley/Flickr.
Reaching beyond merely registering and confirming the identity of criminals, the investigative value associated with the good old fingerprint has now increased markedly thanks to authorities using it to reveal traces of drugs and explosives.
Believed to be a noteworthy advancement for fingerprint technology, police investigators are now able to perform a direct analytical process that breaks down a print’s specific chemical compounds and can reveal explosive substances and also the likes of cannabis, cocaine and other illegal drugs.
Developed by a team of scientists working out of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, the new technology could also be used in the medical industry to reveal trace chemical secretions in the skin that would identify the early presence of illness or disease, reports the Telegraph.
The team behind the analysis, headed by Dr. Demian Ifa and Professor Graham Cooks, recently had news of their technology published in the journal Science, which explained how they applied a technique called “desorption electrospray ionization” (DESI) to spray a solvent directly onto a fingerprint before then using “mass spectroscopy” to analyse the resulting liquid droplets that were bounced from it.
“The classic example of a fingerprint is an ink imprint showing the unique swirls and loops used for identification, but fingerprints also leave behind a unique distribution of molecular compounds,” said Professor Cooks. “Some of the residues left behind are from naturally occurring compounds in the skin and some are from other surfaces or materials a person has touched.”
The team of scientists have also noted that the chemical image produced by the technology, which is significantly higher in resolution than other existing fingerprint techniques, is capable of providing accurate analysis for material as small as a billionth of a gram.
In terms of its immediate impact on forensic police investigations, Dr. Ifa has said the process can also be used to effectively pull one clearly-defined fingerprint from beneath a mess of other layered prints by identifying and isolating its specific compound elements, which would then lead to confirmation of a person’s identity through traditional fingerprint software.
The team also believes the technology could be applied in the field of athletics to replace existing blood and urine tests.
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