This time, you will use an online lab to do some DNA testing. Read the mystery to understand what evidence has been collected and who the suspects are. Then follow the directions in the online lab to do the DNA testing yourself.
Website: NOVA It Takes a Licken DNA Fingerprinting
Talk the Talk Word of the Day: Lead – Evidence that points an investigation in a particular direction.
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Yesterday, you learned how to take a person’s fingerprints. That is getting a sample. In order to match a fingerprint at a crime scene, you need to have a collection of samples to match to.
Today, you are going to learn how to take a fingerprint from an object – this is called picking up latent fingerprints. These are the fingerprints that have been left behind. One way detectives find fingerprints is by dusting the crime scene for them. Fingerprints are coated with powder, then lifted and taken to a lab for identification.
Here are three website that can help you learn all about fingerprint analysis.
Now try your skills at Fetch’s crime scene at Canine Sniffer Intelligence: Hat Snatcher. Fetch’s hat has been stolen. Look over the crime scene and collect evidence. You have the skills to figure out which suspect is the true thief. Remember what you have learned about fingerprints.
Talk the Talk Word of the Day: Forensics – Scientific tests used to solve mysteries.
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If you think you might like forensic science, you might like to take a look inside a crime lab. Try this tutorial: TruTV Forensic Lab What’s Inside to get a brief explaination of what goes on in each area of a forensics lab. You will also see the equipment that is used and learn how science is used to help solve mysteries.
To get some hands on experience, go to one of the Secret Agent Lab Workshops at one of the library branches this summer. At the workshop you will learn how undercover agents use science to discover clues and solve mysteries. This program is presented by Mad Science of North Central Indiana. Schedule
Now, take on online challenge. Follow a case from start to finish as it makes its way through various units of the FBI Laboratory. Every time you see the words, “How did they do that?” click on the link to read the details of how that unit processed the evidence. Website: FBI Investigates a Strange Flashlight
Talk the Talk Word of the Day: Gumshoe – A nickname for detectives.
Still want to know more? Try these books:
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We leave fingerprints on everything we touch hundreds of times a day. We leave them on drinking glasses, silverware, computer keyboards, toys, door knobs, water faucets, books and more. Even though we leave them everywhere, we don’t notice them at all. At a crime scene though, these left behind prints can be very important. Even one fingerprint can solve a case.
The skin on the palms of our hands and on our fingertips are covered with a pattern of ridges. You don’t even need a microscope to see them. These ridges help us grip things. Every single person has a different pattern of ridges. Even the hands and fingers of identical twins are different. The ridges stay the same throughout a person’s life too. These facts are what make fingerprints so useful for crime scene investigators. Fingerprints don’t lie. Today, you will learn how to take other people’s fingerprints.
Talk the Talk Word of the Day: Eyewitness – Someone who saw a crime committed and might have information about it.
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Maybe you would like to be a forensic detective. Forensics are scientific tests that are used to solve mysteries. A forensic scientist might work in a lab or might go out to places where crimes are committed, the crime scene. Watch this video of Jose. He uses forensic science to solve mysteries. By testing physical evidence he identifies suspects and helps bring them to justice.
Not everyone would like being a forensic scientist or a crime scene investigator. People who do this job work in good weather or bad, during the day or in the middle of the night. Because they are helping investigate crimes, they have to look at crime scenes and victims that have been hurt. However, if you like 
science and you like thinking through things in steps using logic, it might be the job for you. You could feel good knowing you helped put a criminal in jail or knowing you helped prove the innocence of a person. Now that you’ve watched Jose, you can really put yourself in his shoes. Get some online experience with forensics at CSI Web Adventures Rookie Training.
You might also like to try these books:
In the next few days we will explore several different kinds of forensic science. Tomorrow we’ll begin with fingerprinting.
Talk the Talk Word of the Day: Evidence – An object or information that is used as proof in a crime investigation.
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