Bones, CSI, X-Files step aside — here come the real forensic scientists

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The name's Bond, Alan Bond. Millionaire businessman, America's Cup winner and, oh yeah, con man.

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He wanted everybody to know that he was in charge, they better look out.

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Today on Big Ideas, the incredible lengths that forensic experts go to, in the name of their incredible day jobs, their grisly day jobs, right? I'm talking about things like swallowing their own blood or blowing up pig carcasses and more surprises, all in the name of solving crimes. And hello, I'm Natasha Mitchell. And knowing how popular true crime books are, your votes are in for ABC Radio National's Top 100 books, Australian books, this year. And I'm sure some of the best crime writers will make the final cut. So be sure to put the weekend of October 17th and 18th in your diary right now, because we are brewing something very special for our live countdown across that weekend on ABC Radio National.

The history of forensics reaches way back. Eight centuries ago in China, they were tracking insect behaviour to help solve crimes. 250 years ago, arsenic traces in corpses apparently kickstarted the whole science of toxicology.

And in India, 150 years ago, fingerprints were being used to ID people. But of course, modern DNA profiling, ballistics and virtual reality tools are taking forensics way beyond those earlier origins. So on stage at the 2026 World Science Festival Brisbane, ABC Science Editor, Dr. Jonathan Webb, he's host of our Lab Notes show, is getting forensic with Inspector Donna Stewart, who's the quality manager of the Queensland Police Services Forensic Group. Also with the group, Dr. Kristen Clarke, who is a senior research officer. Dr. Jack Garland is a specialist forensic pathologist with Queensland Health. And Dr. Jeremy Watherston, he's the deputy director at Forensic Science Queensland. And this is your heads up. Things will get a little graphic here.

Jonathan Webb (2:39)

Hello.

And welcome everyone to an afternoon of science and crime here on beautiful Yagura country. We all wonder all the time how much of what we see on the big or the small screen reflects what you actually do in the course of a day. How much is just Hollywood spin and how much has some sort of root in what actually happens? I might start with you, Donna, on this. Sometimes on TV you see one person who is like not only wandering around the crime scene and trying to figure out what happened, but is also then picking up samples and taking them back to the lab. They seem to be multifaceted geniuses. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would assume that the forensic process is actually more of a team sport.

Donna Stewart (3:26)

Well, I think you described me to a T then, Jonathan.

No, you're 100% correct.

It is definitely a team sport, and we need so many different experts from so many different disciplines who can all come together and take it from the crime scene all the way through to the courtroom. Because our work doesn't end when we step outside the crime scene tape. There's a lot of work that has to happen down the track until we eventually take someone before the court. Someone like me and the police, we will do the crime scene examination, and we'll have experts in various areas. So anything that we do collect, depending on the nature of the evidence, will get sent to another area. So if it's biological fluids that requires a DNA analysis, it will go through to Jeremy's lab there for DNA. If there's maybe some fibre analysis that needs to be looked at, so we're looking at the fabric, matching a fabric from a little piece of fibre found at the scene to a garment, we'll use some sort of chemist to do those analyses. Well, Jack would take the body. He wouldn't take it himself, but we would get the body through to the mortuary so that Jack could have a look at things like the cause of death and any other factors that come into play. And it takes a long time. It's not done and dusted in a one-hour show with our breaks.

Jonathan Webb (4:46)

Now, Jack, as a forensic pathologist, that's a bit different from the sort of pathology most of us have probably experienced where someone puts some sort of bodily fluid, blood or whatever it is, urine in a bottle and sends it off and a fee is paid to get the results. What does it look like in your kind of pathology?