Thank you for the questions everyone, good bye!

Oh, and we don’t try to control for specific insect species. Our goal is to understand what happens naturally in the environment, though maybe we throw in some cultural variables, like burying a body, placing in a house, with clothing, etc. We want to see what the natural actors in decomposition, especially insects,…

We take donors with all types of cause of death. Indeed many are natural but some are traumatic (e.g., homicide, suicide or car accident) and we find a way to use every donor for research and/or training.

I think the work done at the Anthropology Research Facility has greatly impacted forensic science and law enforcement. One way is that we better understand many of the variables that can affect the rate of decomposition and therefore forensic anthropologists can give more realistic estimates of the postmortem…

I think that is an interesting characterization about the work becoming part of the wallpaper, which I interpret as meaning you don’t really even see it any more. I understand the spirit of your question, though I might not agree with that because we work with each donor every day at the Facility taking photographs,…

Not a fan of CSI or Bones, mainly because the story lines are so bizarre and the characters are not necessarily interesting to me. That said, I love shows like “Blacklist” that are completely unbelievable but I like the actors! I do like the Law and Order shows but probably because I’m neither a detective or a lawyer…

The position and location of a donor at the ARF is entirely dependent upon the particular research protocols for which that donor is included. This would include whether the donor is clothed or not, lying face up or face down, etc.

We will soon be initiating a study to do just that - look at how long different DNA collection and analytical techniques can be used for different decomposing tissues. I have learned from the forensic cases that I have been involved in that you can never tell just by looking at the condition of a body whether DNA…

Wow, good question. We are doing a large-scale study of insect species now so in a few months I might have a better answer as to number, but off hand I would say it is relatively diverse. In decomposition there is a whole succession of insects that become interested in a decomposing body, albeit at different times.…

Yes, there is a need for research outside of TN in different climatic zones. The data we have gathered over the last 30 years is useful for temperate environments but not necessarily applicable to deserts (for instance). There are now other facilities in other states, including Texas, Illinois and North Carolina.

There are actually a number of clues that help us locate a body if we can understand the interaction between a decomposing body and its environment. For instance, when a body decomposes, and especially when there is maggot activity, the tissues liquify and pool around the body. This “decomposition pool” kills any…

Yes, one of my main areas of research is bioarchaeology of historic and prehistoric groups. I am particularly interested in the impact of warfare on community health. That is, if a group shows skeletal signs of warfare (dismemberment, weapon injuries, etc.), what impact does that have on where the community lived (did…

Hello. Yes, I am a bit familiar with that study and we are doing something a bit similar here with human donors. I disagree that there are no reliable methods to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI) beyond 36 hours. Insect evidence is very useful well beyond that time line. However, the use of protein degredation as…

I’m not sure about a yearly average but we have curently over 3000 individuals who have willed their body to us while they are still living. We are so appreciative of their gift.

Not even once!

People donate their bodies to us for all sorts of reasons, but mainly because of their great interest in our science and they want to contribute. Donating one’s body is indeed a huge contribution to science - I plan to answer some of the scientific-related questions here in a few minutes and will try to give you a…

Hello to both of you and thank you for the good question about body donation. We have several thousand people who have pre-donated, or willed, their body to the Forensic Anthropology Center upon their death. On our website, www.fac.utk.edu, we have a page for body donation information and interested persons can…

Hello! Over the years there has been a handful of breaches but nothing serious. Most people in Knoxville are proud of the Facility and would never dream of doing anything to harm it. We track and map every donor at the Facility so yes, we would definitely know if there was an unexpected body there. And no, we do not…