10 things you only know if you’re a forensic scientist…
1 Despite what might be suggested in some crime fiction, murder victims look peaceful, not terrified.
2 One of the most interesting principles underlying any forensic investigation is Locard’s Exchange Principle, which can be summarised as “every contact leaves a trace”. Coined in 1910 by the French criminologist Dr Edmond Locard, the only variable is whether or not you find the trace that has been left.
3 One day spent at a crime scene can save two weeks of working in the laboratory.
4 You can gauge the time of death by looking at the stage of development of specific types of insects, maggots or eggs found on the corpse. A forensic entomologist can also sometimes identify from the species of insects present if a body has been moved after death. 5 However gifted an individual scientist might be, forensic science depends on teamwork.
6 Evidence forms patterns; if it doesn’t, you need to ask why.
7 In a town with a population of 200,000, there would be approximately 8,000 people with a matching combination of blood groups, from whom blood could technically have come.
8 Forensic science done badly is worse than no forensic science at all.
9 The job involves spending long hours in the laboratory or in difficult environments, such as outdoor crime scenes.
10 When you think you see the bodies moving, you know it’s time to go home.