Dr Sheila Willis is a forensic scientist who was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland for many years.
She has spent her life using science to help solve cases, working on crime scenes and then analysing material in the lab, and presenting scientific evidence in court.
It’s a complicated business. Forensic science relies on powerful technology, such as DNA analysis, but it cannot be that alone - it’s also about human judgement, logical reasoning and asking the right questions.
It is these fundamentals of forensic science that Sheila has fought for through her long career and what she fears may be becoming lost from the field now.
We find out what happens when the two very different worlds of science and the law clash in the courtroom. How to walk the line of presenting scientific evidence where there is pressure to be definitive where often science cannot be - and what this part of the job has in common with food packaging.
And what makes a good forensic scientist?
We’ll turn the studio at London’s Broadcasting House into a live crime scene to see if host Professor Jim Al-Khalili would be any good as a forensic investigator…
Produced by Gerry Holt
Plastic pollution with Richard Thompson
Erica McAlister on the beauty of flies
Richard Peto on why smoking kills but quitting saves lives
Irene Tracey on pain in the brain
Paul Davies on the origin of life and the evolution of cancer
Corinne Le Quéré on the global carbon cycle
Ken Gabriel, Why your Smartphone is Smart.
2018 Nobel Prize winner, Donna Strickland, on laser physics
Gwen Adshead on treating the minds of violent offenders
2018 Chemistry Nobel Prize winner, Sir Gregory Winter
Sue Black on women in tech
Jim Al-Khalili on HIS life scientific
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Clive Oppenheimer on the volcanic offerings of our angry earth
Sky at Night presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Banning chemical weapons with Alastair Hay
Formula One engineer Caroline Hargrove
Mike Stratton and cancer genes
Detective of the mind Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan
Noel Fitzpatrick on becoming a supervet
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Global News Podcast
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins