Fingerprints Can Tell Your Race

A new piece of research says that fingerprints not only provide information about a person's identity, but also their genetic heritage, as scientists say that certain traits in fingerprints can determine if someone is of African or European origin.

The researchers, who published their work in American Journal of Physical Anthropology, say that the new discovery could have both scientific and law enforcement applications, according to The Daily Mail.

On a scientific level, the researchers said that it could help them trace the global shifts in the human population and the migration of our ancestors as they first began to leave Africa millions of years ago.

In terms of law enforcement, the new technique for evaluating fingerprints and their differences could enable the police and other authorities to get a better idea of the type of suspect that they are looking for if they only have fingerprints to go on.

However promising the new research may be however, the scientists behind the study warned that their findings were only precursory and much more work must be done before their method of evaluation can be consistently relied upon.

The researchers referred to a 2009 call by the National Academy of the Sciences that called for more research into forensic science, and in particular the science surrounding fingerprints.

The discovery was made by looking at the fingerprints of 61 African-American men and women, 61 European-American women, and 60 European-American men.

While the researchers could find no obvious distinction between the men and women, they found that people of African-American descent had roughly 5 percent more bifurcations, or locations where ridges split, than their European-American counterparts.