Blood – it’s a pretty standard part of a crime scene.
But what can bloodstains splattered across a room actually tell us about a crime?
And how granular can that detail get? Down to the very weapon that was used? Is it really possible to reconstruct the events that happened, based on the patterns in the bloodstains?
And – how much can we rely on it in a courtroom?
In this episode of The Science Briefing’s special series on forensic science, Demystifying Forensics, Dr Sophie Calabretto talks to Cosmos Magazine journalist Ellen Phiddian about bloodstain pattern analysis and reconstructing gruesome events only using little red droplets.
The Science Briefing is a LiSTNR production
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Originally published by Cosmos as The gruesome stories bloodstains can tell us
Ellen Phiddian
Ellen Phiddian is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a BSc (Honours) in chemistry and science communication, and an MSc in science communication, both from the Australian National University.
Sophie Calabretto
Dr Sophie Calabretto is a mathematician specialising in fluid mechanics. She is Honorary Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University and Honorary Associate Professor, at the ACE Research Group, University of Leicester.
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