The Analysis of Burned Human Remains Wins PROSE Award

I’m very excited to say that The Analysis of Burned Human Remains, 2nd Edition, edited by Christopher W. Schmidt and Steven A. Symes, received an Honorable Mention in the Biomedicine and Neuroscience category at the recent PROSE awards. The PROSE Awards are an annual competition which seeks to recognise and award the very best in professional …

Forensic Ecogenomics

Don’t you just love making new terms! I know I do! Partly we do it because we have egos that need massaging, but mainly it’ because we do cross-disciplinary work and when you’re working at that junction of subjects, sometimes there isn’t the language to help you. So, forensic ecogenomics. In essence we’ve been thinking …

Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine (Second Edition)

I’m really pleased that the Second Edition of the extremely useful Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine is now out! And even more exciting is that I have four sections in it – all of them are in the ‘A’ section! I’ve whipped up a section on accreditation of forensic science with Brian Rankin, ancestral assessment …

Estimating temperature exposure of burnt bone — A methodological review

Ellingham S, Thompson TJU, Islam M and Taylor G. (2015) Science & Justice 55: 181–188. Forensic anthropologists are frequently confronted with the need to interpret burnt bone. Regardless of the context, one of the key factors for the correct interpretation of the remains and a reconstruction of the incidents leading to incineration is the estimation of …

Degraded and degrading: understanding diagenetic processes in commingled graves from contexts of mass violence

An enhanced stipend of £15,000 per annum is offered to a strong candidate for this full time PhD scholarship in the Technology Futures Institute at Teesside University. Episodes of mass violence occur for many reasons, but the treatment of the deceased is often used as a means of humiliating and threatening the victims, their relatives …

Science & Justice, Vol 54 (6)

I’m delighted that today the first issue of Science & Justice that I compiled as the new Editor-in-Chief is out – and it’s a bumper issue! 16 academic peer-reviewed papers from all over the world feature, with topics ranging across chemistry, biology, drugs, taphonomy, DNA and paintings. You can check it out by following this …

Mathematical!

It’s graduation week this week – which is always a wonderful time in the academic year. All those students wandering across the stage to shake the VC’s hand, trying not to topple of those insane heels, have worked so hard for so long; it’s a real pleasure to see them again. This year is doubly …