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Brainwaves

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Pennie Latin explores the science behind the everyday.

Pennie Latin explores the science behind our everyday experiences and speaks to key scientists working in Scotland.

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Brainwaves: Series 4

Brainwaves: Series 4: Episode 12: Professor Lorna Dawson

Professor Lorna Dawson

Episode 12

Episode 12: Professor Lorna Dawson

Series 4

BBC Radio Scotland - Brainwaves, Series 4, Professor Lorna Dawson

Pennie Latin meets forensic soil scientist Professor Lorna Dawson.

Pennie Latin meets soil scientist Professor Lorna Dawson to hear how her analysis of soil geoforensics has helped solved crimes in Scotland and around the world.

A farmer's daughter from Angus, soil has been in Professor Lorna Dawson's family for generations. She just didn't expect her relationship with soil to lead her into a scientific career of solving crime. Now Principal Soil Scientist at the James Hutton Institute she has for over 25 years' researched soil and plant interactions. 

It was when she was an Edinburgh geology student that her mind was drawn towards forensics. One evening 2 teenage girls went missing from near her student halls, they turned up dead the next day. Little did Lorna know that one day she would become pivotal in the forensic case of The World's End murders. 

Her role as Head of the Soil Forensic Science Group has led her to work on over 70 criminal cases across the globe. It's the detailed analysis of the microbial DNA held within the soil that has led to her pioneering work becoming so effective at finding bodies, caches of drugs and overturning alibi's in courtrooms.

There is however one case that she has been working on for several years which remains incomplete. In this episode of Brainwaves Pennie Latin joins Lorna Dawson on site as she starts a new search for the remains of the missing Scottish schoolgirl Moira Anderson.

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Pennie Latin explores the science behind everyday experiences.

Pennie Latin explores the science behind everyday experiences and speaks to key scientists working in Scotland.

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Brainwaves

Series 4

Episode 12: Professor Lorna Dawson

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