Forensic use of Pollen. Talk by Dr Michael Keith- Lucas

This evening we listened to one of the most interesting and refreshing illustrated 
talks on a specialised subject.  The speaker brought a potentially boring academic subject to life in  a way of interest to gardeners and bee keepers alike
I hope to get copies of some of his articles and papers written for publications such as the Kew Gardens Journal and the Bee Keepers Association.
Here is a summary of his professional work on the subject taken from  the  Zoominfo web site.


The talk was given to the Sedgemoor Gardening Club in Langport.


"Professor Michael Keith-Lucas has recently retired as Senior Tutor in Plant Sciences at the University of Reading, but has been appointed an Honorary Fellow and Consultant.He has research interests in pollen in vegetation history, archaeology, allergy, and forensic science, and plant ecology, including tropical rainforest ecology. In addition he is Chairman of the local region of the Institute of Biology, the Wildlife Trust and Reading and District Gardeners. He has worked on pollen in vegetation history, archaeology, medicine and in honey, as well as in forensic science.

In his talk on 'The Uses of Pollen in Forensic Science' he gives examples of its use in solving crimes of fraud, theft, fire-arms offences, bombings and murder, and how pollen and spores disperse and arrive at the scenes of crime. He also looks into what needs to be done to avoid detection, or how to commit the perfect murder!"



What this post needs now is a review of his talk and that I hope to add soon. If you get the chance to hear his talks I recommend them to you. I will be recommending our local wildlife group to arrange another talk sometime. It reminds me of a book titled "An Orchard Invisible - A natural history of Seeds." As recommended by Dr Anne Bebbington.