Understanding the Science and Evolution of Fingerprints

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Fingerprints are among the most common forensic identifiers, but they are not infallible due to their susceptibility to degradation. Fingerprints are assigned to each of us upon development and remain the same throughout our lifetime. The distinctive patterns we recognize as fingerprints can be attributed to ridges and the oils contained on the surface of our fingers. From an evolutionary standpoint fingerprints allow humans to grasp objects, by increasing friction on our finger pads. Fingerprints are dusted by using a brush coated with fingerprinting powder and sweeping the brush over the fingerprint, where the powder sticks to the oils deposited from a fingerprint (Scientific American, 2002). The method in which fingerprints are identified …show more content…

As the surface temperature grows hotter the fingerprint become less clear, primarily due to evaporation of the oils, which resulted in the appearance of the print in the first place. As the temperature of the surface in question increases the oils evaporated more resulting in a partial fingerprint. The opposite is true of colder surface temperature, as on cooler surfaces the fingerprint appears crisper, as the oils are preserved to the fullest capacity (Forensic Information 2015). There are several other factors which affect the capacity at which fingerprints appear. These factors include: room temperature, humidity, temperature, light, and the surface the latent fingerprint is on (Alcaraz-Fossoul, Patris, Muntaner, Feixat,& Badia, 2012). Additionally over time fingerprints which are left on a surface degrade significantly (Richmond-Aylor, Bell, Callery, & Morris, 2007). When these fingerprints are contaminated, due to any of the previously stated reasons, and an attempt at decontamination only sixty-one percent of the original fingerprint appears (Zuidberg, Woerkom, Bruin, Stoel, & Puit, 2014). This stresses the importance of ensuring that fingerprints are the best preserved by modifying the temperature of the surface the print is

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