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.
No comments:
Post a Comment