SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS

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.

 BREAKING STORIES

NASA delays Atlantis move to launch pad

New underground CO2 monitoring begins

Doubled mortality risk if statins stopped

Study makes some explosives more stable

Fat in obese 'sick' compared to lean fat

EPA sued for info honeybee deaths

Concrete plan to clear the air

Pakistan tightens nuclear security

Why caregivers suffer more illness

Arctic ice at near record low

Scientists rebut finding of 'Hobbit' bones

NASA wants students to choose sciences

U.S. inks geothermal pact with two nations

WHO: Social injustice kills on grand scale

Fever claims life of two-headed baby

Potential type 1 diabetes therapy studied

Mental skills decline even if no dementia

New microwaveable ceramic material created

Russia tests new missile

Purdue sanctions professor for misconduct