Forensic science has become a hot subject due to US television
shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law and Order.
Forensics university courses have proliferated as students flock
to this glamorous and exciting scientific discipline. The
reality may be more mundane, but forensic scientists do
invaluable work linking evidence from crime scenes - such as
fingerprints, injuries, weapons, DNA, computer data, drugs and
counterfeit goods - to criminals themselves. Forensic scientists
also help solve crimes by reconstructing faces from skulls, and
sometimes animating or virtually ageing them, or studying
corpses to pinpoint the cause and time of death. Criminals
almost always leave evidence at crime scenes, or unwittingly
collected it. Our ability to detect this evidence is continually
improving, and many court cases rely it. It is presented to
juries and judges by expert witnesses and helps solve crimes
from fraud and forgery to assault, rape, murder and terrorism.
Forensics can even help uncover secret