This TED Talk features analytical chemist

Simone Francesé recorded live at TED 2018.

Do you ever stop and think during a romantic dinner?

I've just left my fingerprints all over my wine glass.

Or do you ever worry when you visit a friend

about leaving a little piece of you behind on every

surface that you touch?

And even this evening, have you paid any attention to sit without touching anything?

Well, you're not alone.

Thankfully, criminals underestimate the power of fingerprints too.

And I'm not just talking about the twisted pattern of lines that make our fingerprint unique.

I'm talking about an entire world of information, hiding in a small, often invisible thing.

In fact, fingerprints are made up on molecules that belong to three classes. Sweat molecules that we all produce in very different amounts.

Molecules that we introduce among our body and then we sweat out.

And molecules that we may contaminate our fingertips when we come across substances

like blood, paint, grease, but also invisible substances. And molecules are the storytellers

of who we are and what we've been up to. We just need to have the right technology to make them talk.

So let me take you on a journey of unthinkable capabilities.

Katie has been raped,

and their lifeless body has been found in this woods three days later after her

disappearance. The police is targeting three suspects, having narrowed down their searches

from over 20 men, being seen in their area on the same day. The only piece of evidence is two very faint, overlapping fingerprints

...