Fingerprints prove more than just identity

West Lafayette -- U.S. scientists say they have developed technology that can detect trace amounts of explosives, drugs or many other substances through fingerprints.

Purdue University researchers say their new technology -- electrospray ionization, or DESI -- can also distinguish between overlapping fingerprints left by different individuals.

Professor R. Graham Cooks, the lead researcher, says DESI can read a fingerprint's chemical signature to determine what a person recently handled.

"The classic example of a fingerprint is an ink imprint showing the unique swirls and loops used for identification. But fingerprints also leave behind a unique distribution of molecular compounds," Cooks said. "Some of the residues left behind are from naturally occurring compounds in the skin and some are from other surfaces or materials a person has touched."

The study that included Purdue postdoctoral researcher Demian Ifa and graduate students Nicholas Manicke and Allison Dill is reported in the journal Science.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.