[Vision2020] Another Twist Weapons Problems

[Art Deco]

 Bullet Solves Crime By Tagging Shooters And Snagging Their
DNA<http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-12/bullet-solves-crime-tagging-shooter-and-snagging-their-dna>
  Nanomaterials scientists develop a solution to the problem of
heat--emitted when a weapon is fired--destroying precious DNA evidence.
 By Amber Williams Posted 12.06.2012 at 1:38 pm  0
Comments<http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-12/bullet-solves-crime-tagging-shooter-and-snagging-their-dna#comments>

 [image: Bullet Proof]
 Bullet Proof Davvi
 THE PROBLEM

Sherlock Holmes could look at a gun shell and know exactly what went down.
The firearm? The shooter’s stance? The culprit? All revealed with a glance.
In the real world, using a shell to solve a crime is a painstaking, and
often unsuccessful, process. Investigators may be able to match a bullet
with a gun type, but that doesn’t necessarily lead to the person who shot
it. Useful fingerprints are rare, and the heat of firing a weapon can
destroy DNA evidence.
THE SOLUTION

A team of nanomaterials scientists led by Paul Sermon, of Brunel University
in England, has developed a bullet that captures the DNA of anyone who
touches it—and leaves a tracer on the person, too.

Scientists dipped a bullet in a formaldehyde-urea resin, creating a
microscopic scratchy surface that snags skin cells. When fired in lab
tests, the bullet retained 53 percent more analyzable DNA than an untreated
one.

The team needed a compound that would tag whoever handled a bullet,
something both sticky and rare enough to be recognizable. They started with
a natural source: pollen. Because of its rough texture, pollen clings to
skin and clothing; some grains even remain after a handshake or a run
through a washing machine. They’re also invisible to the human eye. Pollen
alone, however, isn’t unique enough to pinpoint a criminal. So the team
coated Easter lily pollen with a 63-nanometer layer of titanium dioxide—a
combination that doesn’t exist in nature. A bullet painted with thousands
of the modified pollen grains would mark a shooter’s finger when he loads
the bullet. To have any effect on crime, governments would have to require
that ammunition manufacturers make modified bullets; Sermon’s team is in
talks with U.K. officials.


-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20121220/793a8156/attachment.html>