BODY FARMERS: SHSU undergraduate researchers (from left: Lauren Smith, Todd Deyne, Courtney Miller and Jessica Winborn) sample a body for bacteria and gases. Professors Aaron Lynne and Sibyl Bucheli prepare for the next procedure ( far right). NATALIE LINDGREN
Fans of the multitude of forensic science TV shows currently saturating the airwaves are familiar with the challenge of determining how long a recently discovered body has been dead. Temperature, humidity, and rainfall all affect the rate of decomposition and hence skew estimates of the postmortem interval. Clues to the time of death have also come from the order of arrival of a wide variety of organisms—mostly insects and fungi—that transform a corpse into a thriving ecosystem. Now, armed with next-generation sequencing techniques, scientists are hoping to pin down the postmortem interval with greater certainty by characterizing fluctuations in the necrobiome—the complete roll call of bacteria that flourish in every nook and cranny of human remains.
Entomology has aided murder investigations at least since the ...
