Detective Microbe

Whenever you have a watched a TV show like CSI or Dexter and scene where they find out when the time of death of a victim occurred comes on, do you ever wonder how it is that they do it? It certainly is something interesting to think about. The current method that researchers use to estimate a person’s time of death is by looking at the development of blow fly larvae in corpses and examining the biochemical changes in near a corpse but, as the article states that these methods aren’t always accurate or reliable. Researchers aren’t able to effectively pinpoint the time of death of a person because the growth rate of blow fly larvae differ by region. It also becomes unclear when other insects come and lay their eggs.

Could there be a more effective way of figuring out the time of death of a person? This article suggests that microbes may be potentially useful in estimating the time of death. The article mentioned that research was conducted on mice where they were able to narrow down the time of death to a three day window. They did this by identifying the microbes present in and on the body.

I’m not entirely sure how this method will work with human corpses since we can’t really put a number on how many microbes are present in and on our bodies. Furthermore, the article didn’t really explain how identifying the microbes present in and on a corpse helped researchers so much in finding the time of death. I would have liked if the author had elaborated on that. I do wonder if the number of microbes increase or decrease after someone dies.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37652/title/Microbes-May-Help-Solve-Mysteries/