New study finds biological sex can be detected by hand odor. FIU researcher explains how this can aid criminal investigations.
A new study by researchers at Florida International University have determined a person’s biological sex can be confirmed by their hand odor with extreme accuracy.
This finding, which was published in the open access science journal, PLOS ONE, can assist in forensic investigations when other biometric indicators, such as DNA and fingerprints, are limited or non-existent.
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"Within forensic science, we've used human scent for matching people to sort of individualize them, and in this case you could use it for class characterization," Executive Director of the Global Forensic and Justice Center (GFJC), Dr. Kenneth Furton told NBC6. "That means if you could collect a scent sample you can determine whether a male or a female potentially committed a crime and use that for an investigative tool."
GFJC has one of America’s oldest forensic science education programs and has grown into one of the world’s largest forensic science centers.
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According to FBI figures, about 72% of crimes are committed by men and about 28% by women. The research also could lead to non-forensic applications in the future.
The current study relies on a foundational principle in forensic science – every contact leaves a trace. When a suspect touches something, they leave something behind, including their odor.
"Let's just say I have a mug here, and I touch it. My human scent is on the mug and you could collect that scent. Later on. if you have an ability to match it to somebody, you could do that or if you don't, you could take that scent and say, well, that scent actually came from a male who was a particular age and a particular race, and you could use it for investigative purposes," Furton said.
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The research team collected samples from 60 volunteers, evenly divided among men and women, using sterile gauze pads to capture their hand odor.
Using instruments commonly found in forensic toxicology and chemistry laboratories, such as gas chromatrography/mass spectrometry, combined with an innovative sampling method and a data analysis program developed by FIU chemistry Ph.D. graduate Vidia Gokool, the team analyzed the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) responsible for an individual’s odor.
While canines can identify human scent, living or deceased, this is one of the first times a person’s odor has been analyzed in the laboratory to accurately determine sex.
"There's still more work to be done, but the results we found, which were over 96% accurate in differentiating males and females ,gives us one more tool for investigative purposes," Furton said.
