Revolutionary Forensic Tech Makes Gunshot Residue Glow Green

If you’ve ever watched an episode of CSI, you know how crucial it is to check suspects and crime scenes for gunshot residue (GSR). Now, a revolutionary technology promises to make that process faster and easier by causing the residue to glow bright green almost instantly.

Traditional GSR Testing: Effective but Slow

Currently, the most common methods for detecting GSR involve collecting samples at the crime scene — including swabbing suspects — and sending them to a forensic lab for analysis. These tests look for specific substances like lead, which is found in the primer used to ignite the gunpowder in a cartridge.

The delay in receiving the results may allow the suspect to flee or cause contamination of the crime scene.

That’s where the new technique comes in.Wim Noorduin, Arian van Asten, and their team at the University of Amsterdam developed the method, which uses an isopropyl alcohol-based liquid that can be sprayed directly onto surfaces at the crime scene.

The liquid contains a reagent called methylammonium bromide, which instantly reacts with any lead particles present. This reaction forms a semiconductor mineral called perovskite. When exposed to ultraviolet light from a handheld lamp, the perovskite emits a bright green fluorescence, visible to the naked eye.

Tested and Proven at the Shooting Range

During shooting range tests, the technology successfully detected GSR on cotton cloth targets after volunteers fired two 9-mm handguns (a Glock 19 Gen5 and a Walther P99Q NL) from up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) away.

More impressively, the liquid also revealed GSR on the shooters’ hands — even after several rounds of vigorous washing. It was also able to detect residue on bystanders who had simply been watching during the test shots.

Amsterdam police are currently trialing the new technique at real crime scenes, with hopes of adopting it widely in the future.The team developed the system based on the existing Lumetallix kit, which already detects lead contamination in environments like construction sites.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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