Raychelle Burks
Raychelle Burks is associate professor in chemistry at American University, Washington, DC, US
- Opinion
Does lysergic acid link the Salem witch trials and a Catholic saint?
A fungal factor may have been the common cause of witch hunts and St Anthony’s fire
- Opinion
What’s lurking in your drink and drugs?
How to test illicit substances at festivals and identify the rodent in your beer
- Opinion
Using XRF to uncover the secrets of three Irish chalices
Investigating a medieval manufacturing mystery
- Opinion
When the blood keeps on flowing
While warfarins can be lifesaving, superwarfarins are deadly – and not just to rodents
- Opinion
Tom Bullock’s eggnog
Raychelle Burks demonstrates how to make a classic festive cocktail – and dives into the intriguing history of a famous mixologist
- Opinion
Hunting vampires with the help of DNA profiling
What was draining the life out of 18th and 19th century New Englanders?
- Opinion
Catalysing the clean-up of methamphetamine
Closing a meth lab is just the first step towards making it safe
- Opinion
The toxic nature of yew, the tree of the dead
Historically associated with resurrection, yew is poisonous enough to kill
- Opinion
From the St Valentine’s Day Massacre to modern ballistics analysis
Computational methods are making firearm evidence more statistically sound
- Opinion
Mass spectrometry to catch Christmas tree thieves and timber traffickers
Forensic chemistry can help uncover pine pilfering and fiendish fir felling
- Opinion
Confusing cannabinoids
Decomposition during GC–MS analysis can thwart efforts to determine if a product is legal
- Podcast
Murder isn’t Easy by Carla Valentine – Book club
Delving into Agatha Christie’s pioneering forensic writing with special guests Raychelle Burks and Kathryn Harkup
- Opinion
Why 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
- Opinion
The dead of aconite
Whether human, witch or werewolf, beware a flower known as the queen of poisons