An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Scientists have demonstrated a way for police to quickly and safely test whether a baggie or other package contains illegal drugs without having to handle any...
GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Today, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science...
Science stinks.
So thought Megan Harries as she measured drops of putrescine and cadaverine — the chemicals that give decomposing corpses their distinctive...
This Bulletin provides an update on forensic science standards that are moving through the development process at Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs), and...
One of the nation’s leading crime laboratories, the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC), has announced that it will voluntarily adopt standards approved by...
When crime lab chemists handle evidence that contains illegal drugs, trace amounts of those drugs are inevitably released into the laboratory environment. When...
NIST has published Draft NISTIR 8225, Scientific Foundation Reviews. This publication describes NIST’s approach to conducting scientific foundation reviews...
At forensic science labs, analysts literally weigh the evidence. They also measure it in other ways. They use microscopes, DNA profiling kits, chemical...
One of the largest software libraries in the world just grew larger. The National Software Reference Library (NSRL), which archives copies of the world’s most...
DNA is often considered the most reliable form of forensic evidence, and this reputation is based on the way DNA experts use statistics. When they compare...
The drug overdose epidemic currently gripping the nation is so tenacious in part because it’s being driven by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that comes in many...
The Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC) has approved three new standards for inclusion on the OSAC Registry. This registry...
Aerial drones might someday deliver online purchases to your home. But in some prisons, drone delivery is already a thing. Drones have been spotted flying drugs...
Fentanyl, the synthetic drug that is driving a nationwide overdose epidemic, is not only a killer. It’s also a shape shifter. Illicit chemists are constantly...
On February 14, 1929, gunmen working for Al Capone disguised themselves as police officers, entered the warehouse of a competing gang, and shot seven of their...
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will undertake a study to assess the reliability of forensic methods for analyzing DNA evidence that...
Jeremy Triplett has had a busy three years. Since the inception of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science ( OSAC) in 2014, Triplett...
Sylvester James Gates, Jr. is a world-recognized researcher in theoretical physics. Formerly of the University of Maryland and now a professor at Brown...
When Continental flight 3407 crashed on approach to Buffalo Niagara airport on February 12, 2009, all 49 persons on board, and one on the ground, were killed...
GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking public input on a potential new organizational...
The first big case involving fingerprint evidence in the United States was the murder trial of Thomas Jennings in Chicago in 1911. Jennings had broken into a...
Marijuana is now legal for recreational or medicinal use in at least 28 states and the District of Columbia. But driving under the influence of marijuana is...
Being a forensic examiner seems glamorous on TV. But working in a crime lab requires long hours of intense focus that are anything but action-packed. This is...
Dan Kallen, a detective in southern New Jersey, was searching a home with fellow officers in August 2015, when they found a bag of white powder. Kallen removed...
As the new year approaches, forensic labs across the country are gearing up for a big change in the way they generate DNA profiles, the genetic fingerprints so...