Bacteria found on the body could help forensic scientists more accurately determine the time of death or other aspects of a crime scene, a new study has found. Currently, when a deceased human is discovered, the forensic techniques for estimating time elapsed since death is not very precise.
However, in a new study researchers at City University of New York (CUNY) have turned to analysing the human microbiome, the bacteria and other microbes that live on and in our bodies, for clues about the postmortem interval of a cadaver.
A team led by Nathan H Lents of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice sampled bacteria from the ear and nasal canals of 21 cadavers through several weeks of decomposition.