Friday 7 August 2015

Heaven Forbid,

 but lets say you have been burgled, 


 and by a strange quirk of fate the police actually call to your home in the UK, which is unlikely not only in the UK but as in some cities in the US, and you have to describe the theft, 'well officer they were rocks', can you describe them? 'well they were grey, big and hard' not much to go on and as it happens rock theft is big business in the UK, so what to do? the Scientists at Loughborough University appear to have the answer, in a new procedure that involves extracting a chemical blueprint from stone using a gelatine sheet (the sort normally used to lift developed fingerprints or footprints), the sample is then scanned using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), from the article,

the group has previously shown that the LIBS/gelatine lift combination is effective in metal theft detection and can create a ‘map’ of metal traces that are present on a suspect’s hands, it is this method which Dr Kelly and his team believe has the potential to be used to trace the geographical location of stone by analysing the residual traces on the gelatine sheet, “We believe our non-invasive technique could provide a much needed link between suspected stolen stone and its original geographical location, but it is very early days” said Dr Kelly, so in a few years rock fiends could find their days numbered! the wonders of science.


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