56 | New Scientist | 31 August 2019
The back pages The Q&A
As a forensic scientist, Niamh Nic Daeid does
research that helps justice be done – from how
fires start to how DNA transfers between objectsAs a child, what did you want to do
when you grew up?
My parents were practical scientists, and they
used their skills to solve real-world problems.
Partly as a consequence of that, my overriding
desire was to make a difference when I grew up.Explain what you do in one easy paragraph.
I lead a team of people from different scientific,
statistical and science communication
backgrounds and we try to address some of the
fundamental challenges in how science is used in
the justice system. We work with police,
researchers, lawyers, judges and the public. I also
do forensic casework – my area of expertise is in
investigating how and where fires start.What’s the most exciting thing you’re
working on right now?
We are working on the development of a global
citizen science project that will help forensic
scientists understand how materials transfer
between surfaces and then persist on the surface
they have transferred to. We have designed
and tested universal experiments to build
databases that will address these questions and
will launch these globally in 2020. These are
profoundly important issues that help us
explain the relevance and weight of forensic
evidence to our courts.If you could send a message back to
yourself as a kid, what would you say?
Work harder than everyone else and don’t be
afraid to think differently.Were you good at science at school?
Yes – and maths and woodwork, which is
always a useful skill to have.What achievement or discovery are you
most proud of?
Proving that conventional smoke alarms don’t
wake children and then finding a sound that does.
It sounds like a truck reversing, that intermittent
beeping noise, followed by a female voice saying
“get up, the house is on fire”. Each sound is played
for 10 seconds, repetitively. Most children wake
with either the first beeping tone or when they
hear the voice for the first time.How has your field of study changed in
the time you have been working in it?
We have been at the centre of a paradigm shift
in forensic science. The situation before was
that the only time judges and forensic scientists
spoke to each other was in the courtroom.
Now, the judiciary and forensic scientists work
together. We speak about science in informal
ways, exploring each other’s questions and
perspectives, to gather a collective understanding
of what science can answer and what it can not.Do you have an unexpected hobby,
and if so, please will you tell us about it?
Not really – I am a workaholic.How useful will your skills be after
the apocalypse?
I can make things out of wood and I can set a fire
almost anywhere – two of the essential skills for
building a shelter and keeping toasty warm.If you could have a long conversation
with any scientist living or dead,
who would it be?
One is Michael Faraday, who wrote
The Chemical History of a Candle and instigated
the Royal Institution’s Christmas lecture series.
Another is Florence Nightingale, who was the
first female member of the Royal Statistical
Society and made good use of infographics.OK one last thing: tell us something that
will blow our minds...
We have very little understanding of how trace
materials, such as DNA, transfer and persist from
one surface to the next. If someone picks up a
glass that you have handled and then they pick up
a weapon and assault someone, your DNA could
transfer to that weapon even though you have
never directly touched it. We are undertaking
research to understand whether this can happen
and in what circumstances. ❚Niamh Nic Daeid is professor of forensic science
and director of the Leverhulme Research Centre for
Forensic Science at the University of Dundee, UK“ Your DNA could
transfer to a
weapon even
though you have
never directly
touched it”
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