FOXSYLVANIA

— Jeez!–Even cadaver dogs may be replaced by electronics someday!  Cadaver dogs need to be fed and housed, ‘ya see, and require expert handling.–It’s science to the rescue!

Two Pennsylvania State University researchers are analyzing the smell of corpses looking to automate the process of detecting them.  Now fresh human corpses are hard to get in time, since it usually takes at least three days to get permission forms and other bothersome arrangements.  The solution is to use pig cadavers, since pigs decay at the same rate as humans and go through the same phases of decomposition.–Dang thoughtful of them!–Dead pigs are being put into small wooden chambers for the research.–Buried pigs?–Lucky stiffs!

Now the composition of chemicals released by corpses changes over time, with some acids released earlier, some later, and yet others in a rather uniform fashion.  An electronic nose could detect changes in the electrical conductivity of various substances when they absorb target molecules, and help establish time of death for use in murder investigations as well as aide in the detection of bodies.

While more research is needed, I guess I’ll have to abandon my in-home program of study to be a cadaver-detecting canine…something smells rotten, here!

This entry was posted on August 25, 2009 at 5:33 pm and is filed under animals, furry, science. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: cadaver dogs