Fingerprints prove more than just identity

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- 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.