Professor Lorna Dawson profiled in Nature

"The article analyses the role of soil and microbes in identifying where criminals have been, particularly given soil’s characteristic complex and heterogeneous nature, as well as its customary contact with persons, vehicles and objects.

Prestigious scientific publication Nature has published a profile of Professor Lorna Dawson, Head of Soil Forensics at the James Hutton Institute.

The story, titled Forensic science: The soil sleuth, describes Professor Dawson’s journey from geology student at the University of Edinburgh to renowned soil forensic scientist at the James Hutton Institute, working in high profile cases in the UK and around the world.

The article analyses the role of soil and microbes in identifying where criminals have been, particularly given soil’s characteristic complex and heterogeneous nature, as well as its customary contact with persons, vehicles and objects.

That complexity can make soil a useful form of contact trace evidence in crime investigation using the many powerful analytical approaches developed at the James Hutton Institute.

Journalist Chelsea Wald spent two days working with Professor Dawson in Aberdeen after being awarded a Science Journalism Fellowship by the European Geosciences Union (EGU). She also visited the Dundee site of the James Hutton Institute, where she met other researchers working in issues such as potato late blight and food safety.

The article on Professor Dawson’s soil forensic research can be found in the latest issue of Nature (520, 422–424, 23 April 2015,  doi:10.1038/520422a) and online at Nature’s website.