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| The body farm was started at the university of Tennessee by Dr. Bass to enhance the study of forensics. They use entomology, decaying of skin, and presence of other animals to determine the time of death. Time of death helps confirm or refute an alibi of a suspect. The body farm allows scientist to have a picture views of bodies decaying in different environments. So when a time of death is in question due to environmental factors the body farm helps confirm the decaying process in said environment. |
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| The body farm also helps determine how different races decompose. Such as someone of African descent versus someone of Indian Descent. Different races decompose at different rates and the body farm allows us to observe this first hand. Not only is the body farm used for decomposition study, it is also used for pathology, which is the study of disease affects, modern skeletal research, and how bodies react in different environments. |
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There are four stages of decomposition
Fresh: which is immediately after death
Bloated: when the stomach starts to enlarge due to gases being produced from metabolic activity
Active decay stage: the skin deflates and is broken due to a large amount of maggots eating away at the skin. This is when most of the skin is removed.
Advance decay stage: is when almost all of the flesh is removed and what is left becomes very dry. |
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| The body farm uses these stages and the environment to show the effects of weather on decaying bodies and how it alters the decaying process. |
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| Dr. Bass said, "In the summer in Tennessee a body will be nothing but bone in up to two weeks." |
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| The body farm trains students on its premises. It also allows FBI and other legal agencies to use the facility for personal investigation and research purposes. Dr. Bass hopes to develop body farms all over the country to show how different climates can affect decomposition. |
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| bodies at the body farms are sometimes buried underground to learn new tools to find bodies hidden in the ground. |
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| Body farms help give time lines for criminal investigation with unknown times of death. |
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| Since body farms allow people to see decomposition first hand, more and more body farms will open in more state. As more body farms open, students and trainees can witness decomposition for personal study. |
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| They come in an order to the body with blowflies coming first, then maggots, ants, wasps, then beetles.You can tell the time of death by the number of generations of a specific species on the body |
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