Sue Russell

Almost half the DNA tests conducted at prisoners’ request confirm guilt. Yet many believe that the exceptions more than justify making post-conviction testing widely accessible. And what is often fair or prudent is for Death Row inmates essential.

Fingerprint matching is a vital investigative tool. But despite its legendary aura of infallibility, courtroom claims of fingerprints’ uniqueness are slowly receding.

Amateurs and experts alike overestimate their ability to divine truth and deception. But when criminal investigators do it, it can be very bad news for the accused.

John Watkins' stash of pornography made him a look like a prime suspect for a rape in police and prosecutors' eyes. How they wrung a confession out of him and convinced a shaky witness to ID him offers textbook examples of how to achieve a wrongful conviction.

Lawmakers, researchers, and peaceful activists all say they deplore violence committed in the name of animal rights. But laws that may label some protesters as “domestic terrorists” are upsetting activists.

U.S. law and U.S. agencies are both looking at ways to reduce the use of animals in labs.

PETA’s lawsuit on behalf of five orcas at SeaWorld could end in a splash or a belly flop for animal rights.

The animal rights movement may set their sights on veterinarians, warn protectors of biomedical animal research.

In a nation where corporations are people and others want fetuses to be, a core of philosophers and attorneys are trying develop laws to declare animals “legal persons.”

Youth Ethics Summit gives students an understanding of how medical research works, which some say is critical to the pushback against animal rights activists.

Gavels and courtrooms are replacing placards and bullhorns, says the biomedical research community, as determined legal eagles work to increase animals’ rights and possibly even grant them "personhood."

A slew of good ideas, from high-tech UAVs to just leaving a hose out for firefighters, may help in battling tomorrow’s brush fires.

A small but significant number of wildfires are intentionally set. The fire starters often share characteristics but aren’t always cut from the same cloth.

While agencies in California can shine a spotlight on fancy new firefighting technology, their peers in places like South Carolina often make do with much less.

Understanding wildfire behavior and predicting its spread ...

Far above the rough terrain where wildfires thrive, satellite and aerial technology is being used to give firefighters on the ground the big picture.

Understanding human thought processes puts a different spin on everything from global financial meltdowns to fighter pilot errors. It can also help make technology more brain-friendly.

A 5-4 majority at the nation's highest court finds that the work of crime labs is not infallible, and defendants have a right to make that clear.

Cognitive neuroscientist Itiel Dror finds that analysis of fingerprint data by human examiners can be ruined by unintentional bias. But he offers some relatively simple fixes that can improve the odds of reliable results.

A critical report from the National Academy of Sciences calls for national standards in forensics science, validation of new technology and crime lab ethics.

As decades of flawed and unscientific fire investigation techniques call arson convictions into question, new recipes emerge for a system-wide overhaul.

Sidebar: 'Flashover defense' gets two arson convictions reversed in the 1980s.