The Week In Fingerprints

In the age of high-tech crime fighting, is there still a place for old-fashioned fingerprints? Israeli investigators would certainly answer yes. A new chemical for tracing fingerprints, developed jointly by U.S. and Israeli scientists, gave investigators their first break in the hunt for the Palestinian gunmen who killed a government minister in a Jerusalem hotel last October. Imdamediome, a yellow powder that is dissolved in liquid, reacts with the amino acids in sweat left by the touch of a finger but invisible to the naked eye. Investigators used the chemical to analyze a newspaper found in the hotel room reportedly occupied...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!