Television series like CSI would have us believe that nothing is easier than gathering fingerprints at crime scenes. In reality, finding prints on many surfaces, such as paper, is a near impossible task. Hebrew University researchers have now invented a new way to produce clear and accurate prints, even off wet paper.

Breakthrough in forensics? Researchers at the Tel-Hai Academic College in Israel say that within a year genetic samples will be able to indicate the offender’s facial and body structures. A fingerprint or hair, for example, could help create a DNA composite portrait of suspects - even for those not in DNA databases.

A new breakthrough in crime investigation is now available with a technique that enables forensic officers to isolate individual DNA in a mixed DNA crime scene, a capacity that has, up to now, eluded police.