Chemical engineering team can see race, diet, gender of someone from fingerprint

London (England) - A team of scientists based in London’s Imperial College has looked at a new way of deciphering fingerprint information that could show demographics like race and gender, and can even determine the person’s diet.

It deals with chemical residue that settles onto the fingerprint, which is apparently distinctive between these demographic categories.

"In the courtroom of the near future, chemical images could feature as key evidence. I hope our work assists law enforcement authorities to bring dangerous criminals to justice," said lead scientist Professor Sergei Kazarian.