Fingerprints may soon yield gender clues

London -- British scientists say a new fingerprinting technique may be able to determine the gender and diet of a suspected criminal.

Researchers, led by Sergei Kazarian of Imperial College London's Department of Chemical Engineering, have devised a technique which collects fingerprints along with their chemical residue and keeps them intact for future reference, the college said Friday in a release.

The research, published in the August edition of the journal Analytical Chemistry, said the technique could also potentially identify traces of items people came in contact with, such as gunpowder, narcotics and biological or chemical weapons.

The prints, lifted with gel tapes, are analyzed in a spectroscopic microscope. The sample is irradiated with infrared rays to give a detailed chemical composition that is then processed by an infrared array detector, originally developed by the U.S. military in smart missile technology.

Chemical clues could also highlight specific traits in a person and indicate whether the suspect was a vegetarian or meat-eater, the report said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.