Gwen Pearson over on Wired points us to a fascinating panel she was on recently.
Titled “Getting Away with Murder” it discussed how real crime scenes and criminal databases work, the limits of what forensics can discover, DNA analysis, pattern evidence work and “why the shows CSI and Bones are utter bunk”.
The panel included Pearson, an entomologist by training, forensic scientist Amanda Leinbaugh, forensic anthropologist Emily Finke and forensic chemist Dr. Rubidium and was hosted by Canadian radio show Science for the People.
Some things you will learn: Kill someone with a Lego, because it’s almost impossible to lift a print from those little things; paperwork isn’t very sexy – and there is a LOT of paperwork in forensics; you can kill someone with a banana.
Science for the People recorded the whole thing which you can listen to here.
Originally published by Cosmos as Can you get away with murder?
Bill Condie
Bill Condie is a science journalist based in Adelaide, Australia.
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