The Houston Forensic Science Center has asked the City of Houston’s Office of Inspector General to investigate allegations made against personnel in the crime scene unit. read more

Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) has introduced legislation requiring the addition of a new online victim portal to California’s existing rape kit tracking system to allow survivors of sexual assault to anonymously and electronically track and receive updates regarding the status, location and information regarding their rape kit. read more

All collected evidence, and every swab taken of those items, has to be sealed in a primary container that is sealed inside a secondary container. Place, seal, label, repeat. And what is the result? Swabs. read more

The first event, Current Trends in Seized Drug Analysis, is a free, weeklong program addressing cannabis, global trends and challenges of novel psychoactive substances (designer drugs), new methods for drug screening and identification, and portable methods for on-site drug identification. read more

Researchers have found a simple way to eliminate almost all sequencing errors produced by a widely used portable DNA sequencer, potentially enabling scientists working outside the lab to study and track microorganisms like the SARS-CoV-2 virus more efficiently. read more

A motel room in Indian River County, Florida was about to become the scene of a homicide. A big drug deal was about to go down. One man was waiting with a stash of cocaine. Two alleged buyers came into the room, but the pair didn’t intend to buy the drugs. read more

In January 2014, contractors working along a mid-central Mississippi creek discovered a skull in a drainage canal. Initial analysis suggested that the skull belonged to a young boy and that he had been deceased for several years. read more

In the state with the highest rate of sexual assault in the nation, testing the backlog of rape kits may not be enough. Many were from cases where the identity of the suspect was already known, or were opened only to find no usable DNA. read more

The scientists found two groups of twin pairs, one where twins share mutations and another where the developmental mutations are only present in one of them at high frequency. read more

In large-scale societies, it’s anonymous—judges have no repercussions. In small-scale societies, the community knows the person, needs them and wants to keep them in the fold. read more