In a new study, scientists have come up with a method that could be used to nab terrorists, by detecting how proportions of isotopes in a chemical like sulphur vary throughout the length of a single hair.
The mid-term objective is to be able to use these methods to track the geographical movements of people, including international crime suspects and victims.
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This proportion can change slightly in response to people's diets and if they travel from one country to another, and the technique is able to detect these small variations.
The scientists use a laser that makes contact with the selected fraction of the hair, generating an aerosol, which later ionizes within plasma, with the spectrometer providing the exact proportions of the sulphur isotopes.
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This advance has enabled the scientists to confirm that the sulphur variations in hair can be linked to peoples' geographical movements.
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Two were permanent residents in the United Kingdom, while the third - dubbed "the traveler" - had spent the past six months in Croatia, Austria, the United Kingdom and Australia.
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Countries must make note as they spruce up their security measures that terrorists could easily employ biological weapons which could create far more destruction than bombs.
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The results of the experiment revealed that the traveller's hair showed significant variations in the sulphur isotopes, while changes in the hairs of the two people living in the United Kingdom were minimal, and similar in both samples.
The scientists are confident they will be able to create databases that will one day make it possible to link the relationship between a specific isotope in hair keratin and a country or region, which would be of great help to the police in tracking down international criminals.
"Although we still cannot say that a certain isotopic variation in a person's hair shows that he or she has been in a particular country, the method can help to break down the alibis of some terrorists who claim not to have moved over recent months," said Santamaria-Fernandez.
Source-ANI
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