Niamh Nic Daeid on forensic science

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2015

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Forensic chemist Niamh Nic Daeid talks to Jim Al-Khalili about investigating fires and analysing legal highs. Her team were involved in studying the infamous Philpott case in Derby when six children tragically died in a fire set by their parents, Mick and Mairead. They devised experiments to find out why, despite having smoke alarms fitted inside the house, none of the children woke up. Chemistry has also been pushed to the limits to identify 'legal highs', or Novel Psychoactive Substances. Around 350 new drugs are released on to the market every month, with Europe a hotspot for buyers. Plus, Niamh talks about the serious problems facing the world of forensic science. The field, she says, is in crisis. With rock-bottom research budgets, and the list of miscarriages of justice growing, how can we fix forensic science? Producer: Michelle Martin.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the podcast of the Life Scientific.
0:03.6	First broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
0:06.3	I'm Jim Alleili and my mission is to interview
0:09.2	the most fascinating and important scientists alive today and to find out what makes them tick.
0:15.0	Uncovering legal highs, investigating arson and analyzing explosives produced by terrorists.
0:22.0	These are the daily tasks of my guest today
0:25.0	forensic chemists Professor Neve Nick Daye. As well as directing forensic research
0:29.5	at the University of Dundee, she also advises the International Criminal Court an Interpol on matters
0:35.3	where science meets the law.
0:38.0	But all is not well in the world of forensics and Niva's been at the forefront of a growing
0:42.3	number of high-profile scientists
0:44.3	warning that this field is in crisis. More on that later. But first, Nevennick-Dade,
0:49.7	welcome to the Life Scientific. Thank you very much. Well, when most people think of forensic work, they imagine a crime scene like on TV, maybe a
0:56.9	murder and the hunt for fingerprints or DNA evidence, but you've worked on areas as diverse as fire investigation, drug
1:04.5	analysis and explosives. I mean that's a pretty varied for a scientist.
1:09.0	It is, but what ties all of these things together, certainly the three that you've mentioned,
1:14.2	is an underlying work around chemistry.
1:16.5	And the root that links them together is really having an understanding of some of the
1:22.2	fundamental principles of chemistry
1:24.0	and applying that within these different domains.
1:27.0	Well, of course, given that both your parents were scientists, your father was a chemist,
1:31.0	your mother was a botanist, I guess it was inevitable that you would become a scientist too
	...

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