How 9/11 Transformed Forensic Science

Science Quickly

Content warning: This episode contains some details about the 9/11 attacks and victims’ remains.

Twenty-three years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, forensic scientists are still working to identify victims from the World Trade Center site. Host Rachel Feltman speaks with Kathleen Corrado, forensics executive director at Syracuse University’s College of Arts & Sciences, about what unique challenges have been posed by the massive scale of the tragedy and how the lessons learned are now helping investigators solve cases from wildfires to criminal investigations—in addition to aiding efforts to identify the remaining victims of 9/11.

Recommended reading:

Health Effects of 9/11 Still Plague Responders and Survivors

What Structural Engineers Learned from 9/11

E-mail us at [e-mail] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices