Bacteria Maybe Next Big Weapon Against Common Criminals

Boston (DbTechNo) - It is not a far fetched idea to think that one day the colonies of bacteria that live on our hands could be what authorities use to track us down when we do bad things.

Currently fingerprinting is one key method of identifying who committed a crime, but if a guilty person commits said crime taking precautions to remove their fingerprints they become tougher to track.

Bacteria that live on our hands are apparently unique to each and every one of us, meaning that we have our own personal type different from anybody else.

Knowing this fact, gives investigators a new method of tracking criminals, and in a study of the method, researchers were correct 75 to 90% of the time

“Each one of us leaves a unique trail of bugs behind as we travel through our daily lives. While this project is still in its preliminary stages, we think the technique could eventually become a valuable new item in the toolbox of forensic scientists,” said lead author Noah Fierer of the University of Colorado.

The researchers presented their study findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.