References
參考資料
[1] Chelser, C. Your Fingerprints Are About to Reveal a Lot More About You (2015).
Popular Mechanics
. Retrieved from
http://www.
[2] Fingerprint Evidence (2006).
Student Science
. Retrieved from
By Christopher Cheng
程鵬
Chinese International School,
漢基國際學校
與生俱來的二維碼
or absorb UV light. Then, forensic scientists use
the handheld RUVIS device that has a specially
designed lens installed within that both bypasses
UV light and blocks light of any other wavelength,
enhancing the imaging of the print.
Alternatively, chemical developers such as,
ninhydrin, can be used to make the print more
visible for analysis. Typically, sebum is not the only
residue left behind by fingertips. Sweat, which
contains amino acids and inorganic salts, is
commonly present in the print mixture. The latent
print left on a porous surface can be treated
with ninhydrin to react with the amino acids and
inorganic salts, which turns purple in colour. This
reaction can be catalysed with the use of a simple
household iron!
In Hong Kong, fingerprints are securely stored
in a government database in order to assist with
forensic identification. Computer programmes
are specifically designed to cross-reference print
samples for a match. However, print identification
is not without its limits, and there have been
numerous cases of mistaken matches due to
incomplete print samples. Developers constantly
str ive to f ind a balance between precision,
which carries the risk of not yielding a result, and
generalisation, resulting in too many results.
Such databases might be on their way out,
however, as a forensic science company known
as ArroGen Group has purportedly developed a
revolutionary fingerprinting process called Finger
Molecular Identification (FMI) that analyses the
chemical composition of prints and allows for the
determination of the biological characteristics of
the print’s owner — revealing the gender, age and
whether the perpetrator is a smoker.
Watch out for where you leave your prints!
般還帶有汗水，其中含有氨基酸和無機鹽，可與茚三酮起化
學反應。留在多孔表面的潛伏指紋經茚三酮處理後，就會
變成紫色。這化學反應可以家用熨斗來催化！
香港政府設有安全的指紋數據庫來配合法證鑑定。雖
然有專門設計的電腦程式交叉比對指紋樣本，但識別指紋
還是有很多限制，亦有因指紋樣本不完整而造成錯配。專家
努力追求平衡：既不會過於精準以致一無所獲，也不會因太
籠統而出現太多的結果。
不過，可能不再需要這樣的數據庫了。據報道，
ArroGen Group法證公司已經開發出一種稱為手指分子鑒
定 (FMI) 的指紋識別方法，這種革命性技術可以分析指紋
的化學成分，並能確定指紋主人的生物學特性，例如性別、
年齡及是否吸煙等。
注意你在哪裡留下了指紋！
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