Whats up-and-coming in forensic science?
Current and recent research projects at the Body Farm: Chemical products of decomposition: Using sophisticated analytical equipment, a research scientist from Oak Ridge National Laboratory is analyzing the hundreds of chemical compounds released as bodies decompose. To date, he has identified more than 400 individual compounds. He has also developed a prototype portable instrument that can detect airborne traces of some of the most prominent of these compounds—a step toward a handheld device that could be used to locate murder victims and mass graves in human-rights cases. Biochemistry of adipocere formation: Adipocere—a Latin word usually translated as “grave wax”—forms when a body’s fatty tissue decomposes in a moist environment: on drowning victims, for instance, or bodies buried in damp basements or hidden in caves. (Adipocere figures prominently in the murder victim whose discovery in a cave triggers the action of Carved in Bone.) One current research project is studying the bioch
