Raychelle Burks
Raychelle Burks is associate professor in chemistry at American University, Washington, DC, US
OpinionWhat’s lurking in your drink and drugs?
How to test illicit substances at festivals and identify the rodent in your beer
OpinionUsing XRF to uncover the secrets of three Irish chalices
Investigating a medieval manufacturing mystery
OpinionWhen the blood keeps on flowing
While warfarins can be lifesaving, superwarfarins are deadly – and not just to rodents
OpinionTom Bullock’s eggnog
Raychelle Burks demonstrates how to make a classic festive cocktail – and dives into the intriguing history of a famous mixologist
OpinionHunting vampires with the help of DNA profiling
What was draining the life out of 18th and 19th century New Englanders?
OpinionCatalysing the clean-up of methamphetamine
Closing a meth lab is just the first step towards making it safe
OpinionThe toxic nature of yew, the tree of the dead
Historically associated with resurrection, yew is poisonous enough to kill
OpinionFrom the St Valentine’s Day Massacre to modern ballistics analysis
Computational methods are making firearm evidence more statistically sound
OpinionMass spectrometry to catch Christmas tree thieves and timber traffickers
Forensic chemistry can help uncover pine pilfering and fiendish fir felling
OpinionConfusing cannabinoids
Decomposition during GC–MS analysis can thwart efforts to determine if a product is legal
PodcastMurder isn’t Easy by Carla Valentine – Book club
Delving into Agatha Christie’s pioneering forensic writing with special guests Raychelle Burks and Kathryn Harkup
OpinionWhy eating a sleigh’s worth of candy canes is a bad idea
Like any compound, the festive flavour of peppermint can be harmful in high doses
OpinionThe dead of aconite
Whether human, witch or werewolf, beware a flower known as the queen of poisons
OpinionInsulin as a murder weapon
Forensic experts can tell if high insulin levels have a natural or criminal cause