© ANDRZEJ KRAUZE
An expert in forensic chemistry, Niamh Nic Daéid is accustomed to presenting evidence in court—often for hours on end. “The longest time I’ve spent in the witness box is about seven hours,” says Nic Daéid, director of research at the University of Dundee’s Center for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) in Scotland. Nevertheless, she says, “the thing that is most important is being able to clearly and accurately explain the meaning of the results of whatever tests have been done.”
Those results, which can pertain to evidence ranging from the fingerprints at a crime scene to the pattern of burn marks created by an explosive, can help push a trial verdict one way or the other. But ensuring that they are communicated properly can present ...
