Poems by Rabbie Burns can now be distinguished from forgeries

Scientists have developed a new chemical test which can differentiate between genuine works by Robert Burns and thousands of forgeries. To create the new test, researchers pinpointed the types of ink and paper favoured by the Bard of Ayrshire when writing his poems. This information was fed into a computer to teach the machine learning algorithm to be able to classify forgeries from the genuine article, which can sell for up to £90,000 ($120,000) at auction. Researchers then tested out the system on known fakes and real works by the 18th Century poet, best known for writing New Years Eve anthem'Auld Lang Syne'. Authenticating manuscripts can be a complicated process that typically damages parts of the original paper or ink.