Phrenology, voice stress analysis, lie detectors, etc. - There's a long list of things that don't really work being used by law enforcement to help put lot of innocent people in prison.
Fingerprints might not be on the same level of fraudulent bullshit of the above, but they also shouldn't be the unquestionable end-all be-all of proof either.
They aren't on the same level of fraudulent bullshit, but they're close.
Fingerprint matching is done "by eye" and often involves an "expert" saying that one smudge is a 100% match for another smudge.
DNA matching is the only forensic science that's worth a damn, and only if it's done correctly.
DNA matching is the only forensic science that's worth a damn, and only if it's done correctly.
And even that one is useless in case of identical twins.
The article headline is misleading. Nothing in the study indicates that fingerprints can't be used to uniquely identity people. It claims to show that although each fingerprint on a single person is unique, they have similar features. Thus, one could assess whether a pair of fingerprints come from the same person.
Phrenology, voice stress analysis, lie detectors, etc. - There's a long list of things that don't really work being used by law enforcement to help put lot of innocent people in prison.
Fingerprints might not be on the same level of fraudulent bullshit of the above, but they also shouldn't be the unquestionable end-all be-all of proof either.
They aren't on the same level of fraudulent bullshit, but they're close.
Fingerprint matching is done "by eye" and often involves an "expert" saying that one smudge is a 100% match for another smudge.
DNA matching is the only forensic science that's worth a damn, and only if it's done correctly.
And even that one is useless in case of identical twins.
The article headline is misleading. Nothing in the study indicates that fingerprints can't be used to uniquely identity people. It claims to show that although each fingerprint on a single person is unique, they have similar features. Thus, one could assess whether a pair of fingerprints come from the same person.