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Breakthrough forensic research at Northumbria University, Newcastle, has revealed for the first time that textile fibers can, under certain circumstances, be transferred between clothing in the absence of contact.
This new forensic discovery has not been demonstrated before and could have a major implication for fiber evidence in certain criminal cases.
Researchers within Northumbria University's Department of Applied Sciences have proved that contactless transfer of fibers between garments can be possible through airborne travel.
Because it has largely been assumed that fiber transfer only occurs when two surfaces touch, it is generally accepted in a case that two surfaces have, at some point, been in contact with each other. However, researchers at Northumbria University have revealed that under certain conditions, this is not necessarily always the case.
[...] The results of this study demonstrate that when certain strict conditions are met (i.e. time, sheddability of garment, proximity and confined space), airborne transfer of fibers can occur in forensic scenarios, and that these could be in potentially significant numbers for fiber types, such as cotton and polyester.
The results of this study define a set of circumstances that can be used as a baseline to evaluate the likelihood of an alleged activity being conducive to contactless transfer.
[...] [Dr. Ray Palmer] said: "This study was designed so that the experimental parameters were as conducive to contactless transfer as possible, whilst still maintaining a real-life scenario. Since there is a paucity of published studies relating to contactless transfer, the results obtained from this study will be useful to forensic practitioners as a baseline in evaluating how likely it is that a proposed activity or case circumstance has resulted in contactless transfer."
Journal Reference:
Kelly J. Sheridan, Evelina Saltupyte, Ray Palmer, et al. A study on contactless airborne transfer of textile fibres between different garments in small compact semi-enclosed spaces [$], Forensic Science International (DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110432)
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @11:24PM (2 children)
How long until they use this peer-reviewed science to put an innocent Black man in prison?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 16 2020, @01:14AM (1 child)
FTFY, as much as it is possible to fix it.
This particular study isn't aimed at locking up innocent people, but to help prevent innocent people being unjustly convicted of a crime. There have been a number of high profile cases over the years, which have relied on matching fibers of carpeting, clothing, or auto upholstery. Years ago, I believed that kind of stuff. As the years passed, I believed less and less. Lie detectors proven to be bogus, for starters. I guess field sobriety tests came next. Even as a younger, healthier man, I couldn't pass those tests consistently. Today? I will not submit to a field sobriety test, because I will fail them.
Someone above mentioned phrenology. A bump on your head will predict your criminality? FFS, that is inane. Bite marks? I read a story of a bite mark "expert" who failed to identify a DOG BITE! Fire forensics? I still kinda believe that a real expert can tell a lot from a fire, but too many "experts" have been exposed as frauds.
Sending innocent people to prison is something we want to avoid - and it really doesn't matter what color, culture, religion, or whatever else they come from.
Innocent lives matter.
Imagine going to prison because some damned fool found a fiber on your jeans that "could only have come from a Nissan produced between the years of xxxx and yyyy". No other evidence ties you to the crime, but you either rode in a Nissan, or someone who did ride in a Nissan happened to bump against you in a crowd. Or - as this story demonstrates, he didn't even bump into you - the fiber was transferred through the air.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday August 16 2020, @05:51PM
So much this. And if this is true for textile fibers, it's true for hair and skin flakes (and so, DNA).
Sure, if they find a huge blood stain on your shirt and a bunch of the victim's DNA in it, you got some 'splainin' to do, but just finding a trace of DNA doesn't prove anything.
The elephant in the room is everyone who has already gone to prison based on flimsy forensics. While most of science is about proving things, forensics has way too much history of assuming things to be true until proven false. We assumed that if you had fibers on you, you were in direct contact with the source. We assumed that is the metal in the bullets you had had the same composition as the one that was removed from the victim, it was your bullet. Just like we once assumed that if there was a bump on your head in a particular location, you had a predilection for crime.