Because not long after its heart stops beating, a body starts to break down.
And, as you probably know, it almost always leads to the same thing, unless the body is
preserved or cremated: dust.
But between death and dust, the human body goes through a lot of changes.
What happens in the first few days after death is a lot different from a few weeks or months
later.
The process and rate of decay also depends on different factors, like whether the body
is exposed to air and the temperature and humidity of that air.
We’re still learning exactly how it all works, which is why scientists who study body
decomposition, known as forensic anthropologists, monitor the different phases of decay at special
facilities call body farms.
Their findings are especially important for crime scene investigators, who can use the
information to learn more about a crime -- and hopefully nab the perpetrator.
Decomposition is a fascinating scientific process, but yeah, in this episode we’re
going to talk a lot about death and decay.
So if that sort of thing makes you squeamish and you want to watch something else, here’s
a video about adorable koalas.
The first body farms were created because scientists wanted to really understand what
was going on when bodies decomposed.
But for that, they needed to see the whole timeline, and human bodies aren’t generally
found decaying unless there’s some kind of foul play involved, or the death isn’t
noticed for a while.
Either way, those bodies don’t make good specimens, so for a long time, our understanding
of how human bodies decomposed mostly came from animal studies and the occasional exhumed
corpse.
Until the 1980s, that is, when a forensic anthropologist named William Bass established
the first body farm at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
At body farms, researchers observe human corpses decomposing under all kinds of different conditions.
Some might be posed inside cars, while others are underwater, covered with concrete, laid
out in the sun, or buried in shallow graves.
Since the researchers are studying actual human decomposition instead of just using
animal corpses, the information they get is much more accurate.
These days, we know a lot more about the different phases of decay and how exactly they happen
in human bodies exposed to different conditions.
So first, let’s talk about what happens in a fairly neutral environment -- when a
cadaver is left out in the open air, in moderate temperatures.
The first stage begins right away.
Without a heart circulating blood, or lungs working to provide more oxygen, the body’s
cells begin autolysis -- they start digesting themselves.
Carbon dioxide begins to build up, increasing cell acidity, which starts breaking down cell
membranes.
Cells contain digestive enzymes, which are normally kept safe in a pocket of membrane
called a lysosome -- this way, they can’t digest the cell itself.
But once these membranes disintegrate, the enzymes start to chew up the rest of the cell,
which eventually dies.
Meanwhile, the body’s experiencing changes on a larger scale, too.
Without the chemical processes that kept the body warm while it was alive, it starts to
cool down until it gets to the ambient temperature, in a process known as algor mortis -- Latin
for “the coldness of death.”
And since the heart isn’t keeping blood circulating anymore, the heavy red blood cells
are pulled to the bottom of the body by gravity, causing a bluish-purple discoloration known
as livor mortis, which is Latin for “blue color of death.”
Those ancient Romans really didn’t beat around the bush.
The blue color shows up about 20 minutes after death and peaks after around 12 hours, eventually
fading away when the blood cells decompose.
It’s just one example of how the science of body decomposition can be helpful for forensic
investigators, who can use the livor mortis pattern to figure out how the body was positioned
soon after death -- and whether it was moved.
Then there’s the famous rigor mortis, or “the stiffness of death,” which starts
around 2 hours in.
The stiffening has to do with the fact that human muscles actually /use/ energy to relax,
but the cadaver isn’t providing those energy-rich molecules anymore.
So the muscles stay contracted.
Rigor mortis sets in between 2 and 6 hours after death, and lasts for around 2 days -- until
the muscles themselves finally break down enough to relax -- permanently.
Those first few days are the cleaner parts of the decomposition process.
But soon, things start to get a little…
messier.
There are microbes that live all around and inside us, and in life, our bodies mostly
keep them in check.
But as more and more cells die, anaerobic bacteria -- which don’t need oxygen to survive
-- start to take over, kickstarting the decay process known as putrefaction.
These microbes feast on the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins left in the body, producing
gases like carbon dioxide, natural gas, and hydrogen sulfide -- the same stuff you’ll
find in swamps and sewers.
The gases build up inside the body, causing what’s known as bloat -- the first sign
of putrefaction that you can really see.
Since the skin cells are breaking down, all the extra pressure can rupture the skin, letting
the gases escape -- and they don’t smell too great.
Two of them, called cadaverine and putrescine, were actually named after the things they’re
most associated with -- dead bodies and decaying flesh.
But you also sometimes have smaller amounts of both of these gases in your mouth -- they’re
partly what makes bad breath smell so… bad.
Meanwhile, that hydrogen sulfide we talked about earlier starts to react with hemoglobin
proteins in the blood, forming a compound called sulfhemoglobin.
Sulfhemoglobin is green, and it’s what causes the greenish tint associated with dead bodies.
Since the discoloration often follows the pattern of the blood vessels under the skin,
it’s also sometimes called marbling.
But those are just the changes that come from microbes.
If the corpse is exposed to the air, it’s going to attract insects, too -- mainly flies,
which will lay their eggs in the flesh.
Those eggs hatch into maggots, which start to eat the remains.
That marks the transition into the active decay phase, which begins a week or two after
death.
As the maggots keep eating, the body starts to lose more mass.
Fluids build up and leak out, which creates more holes in the skin.
Oxygen comes in through those holes, speeding up the decomposition process.
Generally, the maggots consume most of the available flesh within a week or two and leave
the body to grow up into adult flies, signaling the start of the advanced decay phase-- otherwise
known as dry decay.
This stage can last anywhere from a few months to several years, depending on what the surrounding
conditions are like.
By now, most of the easily-digested parts of the body have been broken down, and it’s
just bones, cartilage, and maybe some dried skin left.
So the microbes and insects become less active and there’s not much more decomposition
happening at this point -- at least, not inside the body.
All those fluids that were produced during the active decay phase create a sort of barren
island around the corpse, where the changes in acidity and chemicals in the soil mean
that most plants can’t really grow for a while.
Sun, wind, and rain will continue to dry, bleach, and eventually break down these remains,
as the bones chemically interact with the surrounding soil and mechanical pressures
grind them into dust.
So, that’s what happens if a cadaver is left out in the open air in the more average
climates on Earth.
But what about more extreme conditions?
Or even if the body is just buried underground?
Well, it’ll probably go through most of the same processes, just at a different rate.
According to a rule known as Casper’s Law, a body will take twice the time to decompose
in water than it would in air, and eight times longer if it’s underground.
That’s because water and soil make it hard for the usual scavengers and insects to reach
the corpse.
Plus, they’re usually cooler than the exposed air.
And extreme cold and dryness can slow down or even stop decomposition -- the cooler temperatures
and lack of moisture can make it harder for microbes and enzymes to break things down,
so instead of decaying, the body mummifies, preserving the bones, skin, and organs.
In 1991, for example, when two hikers in the Swiss Alps discovered Otzi the Iceman, his
remains were so well-preserved that he was first thought to be a lost climber -- until
researchers took a closer look at his clothes, tools, and tissue and discovered that he’d
lived and died more than 3,000 years ago.
On the other hand, a body left in an extremely warm and humid environment, like a tropical
forest, will decompose much faster than normal.
More insects are found in tropical environments, so they remove mass from the body much more
quickly, speeding up decomposition.
And, instead of cooling down, the body would actually heat up to match the ambient temperature,
if the surroundings are warmer than a living human body.
Bodies buried in certain kinds of soil or found in warm water go through a totally separate
process, known as saponification, where the bacteria in the soil interact with the oils
and fats in the corpse.
It’s similar to the reaction used to make soap, and it forms a waxy grey material known
as adipocere, or grave wax, which starts to cover the body -- and if there’s enough
of it, the body will stop decaying and become a so-called “soap mummy”.
Peat bogs, or swampy stretches of mud filled with decaying plant matter, can also mummify
corpses -- a process we’ve talked about before.
As the peat grows and decomposes, the water becomes cold, highly acidic, and oxygen-poor
-- a combination that has some unusual effects on any bodies in the bog.
The acidity of the water acts like vinegar, pickling any submerged flesh.
The corpse ends up with well-preserved skin -- it’s basically tanned by the peat bog,
and turns into a natural mummy.
So, after a few decades’ worth of body farm research, we know a fair amount about how
the process of decomposition affects human tissue.
There are still a few knowledge gaps -- the first non-American body farm is being built
in Australia right now, so that researchers can study how the Australian climate influences
decay.
But for the most part, forensic anthropologists can look at a decomposing body and know exactly
where it is in the stages between death and dust.
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