In 1902, a shard of bloody glass helped solve a murder in Paris, marking the first time in Europe a suspect was caught using only fingerprints. Since then, fingerprints have become one of the most common tools in criminal investigations.

But are they as foolproof as we think?

This video from TED-Ed dives into the history and science behind fingerprinting, from how those tiny ridges form in the womb, to the high-tech methods used to uncover and analyze them today. It also explores the limits of fingerprint evidence, including the risk of smudges, human error, and the lack of a global standard for matching prints.