Rich Press

Who Was Detective X?

In the gangster era of Prohibition and the Great Depression, a physicist at the National Bureau of Standards, now NIST, brought modern ideas to the then-emerging field of forensic science.

News

yellow crime scene tape with the words CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER

Houston Forensic Science Center to Voluntarily Adopt OSAC Standards

December 18, 2018

One of the nation’s leading crime laboratories, the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC), has announced that it will...

Two vials, one with heroin and one with an equivalent dose of fentanyl, which is a much smaller amount.

New Protocol for Measuring Background Levels of Drugs in Crime Labs

September 25, 2018

When crime lab chemists handle evidence that contains illegal drugs, trace amounts of those drugs are inevitably...

NIST Updates Forensic Standard Reference Materials

September 19, 2018

At forensic science labs, analysts literally weigh the evidence. They also measure it in other ways. They use...

illustration with boat on water. Under the water there are fish. Some have green checkmarks and some have red question marks. All but one of the red question mark fish are caught in a net

Database of Software “Fingerprints” Expands to Include Computer Games

September 10, 2018

One of the largest software libraries in the world just grew larger. The National Software Reference Library (NSRL),...

NIST Builds Statistical Foundation for Next-Generation Forensic DNA Profiling

July 23, 2018

DNA is often considered the most reliable form of forensic evidence, and this reputation is based on the way DNA...

Feature Stories

A Speed Gun for Photosynthesis

How fast is that plant pulling CO 2 out of the atmosphere? You may soon be able to point a sensor at it to find out.

Who Was Detective X?

In the gangster era of Prohibition and the Great Depression, a physicist at the National Bureau of Standards, now NIST...