Just Science Podcast

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month; a national campaign which aims to support sexual assault survivors while also highlighting innovations in sexual assault response and prevention. In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness month, Just Science host and forensic scientist, Mikalaa Martin, sat down with several subject matter experts to discuss innovative methods for sexual assault evidence processing and workflows.

This episode is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (Award No. 15PNIJ-21-GK-02192-MUMU).

Some content in this podcast may be considered sensitive and may evoke emotional responses or may not be appropriate for younger audiences.   

Listen to all podcast episodes here: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify, & YouTube Podcasts!

In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Chuck Heurich, Senior Physical Scientist with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and Dr. Jennifer Snippen, experienced medicolegal death investigator and consultant, to discuss recent updates to NIJ’s Guide for the Death Scene Investigator.

Twenty-five years ago, NIJ released a guide to help medicolegal death investigators navigate complex scenes and cases; a document that has since evolved with the development of best practices and technological advancements. In 2024, a new version was released after a multi-disciplinary group of experts collaborated to make four major changes, including updates to documentation for death notifications to the office, procedures for child death investigations, partnering with law enforcement, and more. Listen along as Chuck and Dr. Snippen describe why the Death Investigation Guide was developed, how the newest updates came to be, and implications for day-to-day operations for medicolegal death investigators.

This episode is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (Award No. 15PNIJ-21-GK-02192-MUMU).

Some content in this podcast may be considered sensitive and may evoke emotional responses or may not be appropriate for younger audiences.   

Listen to all podcast episodes here: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify, & YouTube Podcasts!

Through discussing and reflecting on real-world case examples, we are able to better understand the capabilities and limitations of forensic technologies and processes. In this year’s Case Studies season, host Mikalaa Martin sits down with forensic science practitioners, representing expertise in a diverse set of forensic disciplines, to discuss their presentations from the 2024 International Association for Identification Forensic Educational Conference.  With topics ranging from inadvertently photographed ridge detail to mass disaster response and more, listen along as guests share their lessons learned through case examples and describe how they are utilizing both emerging and established methodologies and technologies to more effectively resolve cases and respond to catastrophes.  

This episode is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (Award No. 15PNIJ-21-GK-02192-MUMU).    

Listen to all podcast episodes here: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify, & YouTube Podcasts!