This Week in Forensic Science
No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door! DNA Evidence Connects Minneapolis Driver to Two Sexual Assaults a Decade Apart, Charges Say […]
Burning Out in the DNA Lab: A Wellness Panel on Stress, Trauma, and Taking Care of Yourself
Forensic DNA analysts spend years learning how to handle evidence. They are not typically taught how to handle what the evidence represents. The bodies, the children, the families waiting — all of it moves through the lab and out the door with the case file, but it does not always leave the analyst. That gap […]
What They’ve Had to Unlearn: A Conversation with the ISHI Advisory Committee
Progress in forensic science isn’t only about what gets added — it’s also about what has to be let go. The ISHI Advisory Committee was asked what they’ve had to unlearn throughout their careers. The answers are about language, leadership, identity, and scope. https://youtu.be/12CTfQpKgNI Shena Latcham’s answer is about language — and how much of […]
This Week in Forensic Science
No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door! Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Bureau and the Riverside Cold Case Homicide Team Leverage […]
Dear Mentor: How Can Leaders Get Staff On Board with Changes?
She’s not trying to undermine the change. She doesn’t realize she’s resisting it. That’s not a generous reading of a difficult team dynamic. It’s what the behavioral science behind change actually shows. When someone has a natural propensity toward negative emotion, they tend to experience change as loss. They grieve it, or they fear it, […]
A Free Training for Kinship Analysis Is Now Available. Here’s What’s in It.
Kinship analysis occupies a different space than most DNA casework. Standard forensic interpretation relies on direct comparisons — a known profile measured against an unknown. Kinship analysis asks a different question: given the DNA in front of you, what is the statistical support for a biological relationship between these individuals? That distinction matters for how […]
What 15 Skeletons from a 17th-Century Warship Reveal About Modern Forensic DNA
The warship Vasa sank in Stockholm harbor in 1628, traveling just over 1,300 meters before it went down. When salvage crews raised it in 1961, they recovered skeletal remains along with it — clothing, artifacts, and bones that had spent 333 years submerged, then been excavated, reburied in soil, and in some cases stored in […]
Speeding Up Cannabis DNA Analysis: A GWU Student Takes on the Drug Lab Backlog
Most forensic drug labs work with chemistry. GC-MS is the gold standard, and it does what it’s supposed to do — but it’s slow, and the backlogs are real. Rory Conn, a graduate student in forensic molecular biology at George Washington University, set out to see whether DNA could help. Her research builds on a […]
When the Mass ID Plan Needed a Real Test, This Forensic Lab Reached for Dice
Most forensic laboratories have a mass identification plan. Far fewer have a reliable way to test it — one that doesn’t require pulling equipment off-site, coordinating logistics for a full deployment exercise, or halting casework to run a simulation. For the DNA unit at Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, that gap became the problem worth […]