CSI works better on TV than in real life (in Italy)?

On television — especially American television — forensic scientists almost always figure out the identity of mysterious corpses. This study suggests that the actual results — in real life, dealing with real corpses — may not be as good, especially outside America: “Unidentified bodies and human remains: An Italian glimpse through a European problem,” Cristina […]

“Corpse Treatment Method”: The body of a tree, so to speak and also literally

This patent application describes how to use a human corpse to grow part of a copse: “Corpse Treatment Method,” U.S. Patent Application 12/160,699, Evert Dirk Van Ramshorst, filed January 15, 2007. “A new form of corpse treatment has also been developed: freeze-drying or lyophilization. In freeze-drying the body of the deceased is cooled to -18° […]

Responses to real and imitation (termite) corpses, underground

Corpses are pretty darned attractive, in a sense, to certain individuals, under certain conditions,as is made clear in this study: “Evidence of cue synergism in termite corpse response behavior,” Michael D. Ulyshen and Thomas G. Shelton, Naturwissenschaften, Volume 99, Number 2, 89-93. The authors report: Subterranean termites of the genus Reticulitermes are known to build […]