Editor's note: This story is being highlighted in ASU Now's year in review. Read more top stories from 2019.
Five Arizona State University professors are being honored with the highest faculty award possible: Regents Professor.
Science
"The DNA is a match."
When you hear that phrase on modern-day detective shows, you know the jig is up; the bad guy has been caught. In a fictional TV world where crimes are solved in 30 minutes, nobody ever questions the authority of DNA evidence.
In real life, though, doubt can easily be cast on it because people get confused by scientific jargon, or because of uncertainties about how the evidence was obtained and handled — in one famous case, the O.J. Simpson murder investigation, both factors ultimately contributed to the outcome of the trial.