Science & technology | Final countdown

A new technique to work out a corpse’s time of death

AI could make the work of pathologists more accurate

An FBI Evidence Response Team member excavates a site during a week-long field of study at the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Photograph: Science Photo Library

In fiction, hard-pressed pathologists presented with a corpse are able to take a bite of their sandwich and instantly pronounce a time of death. Reality is, of course, a lot messier, and the results—or lack of them—can make or break a case.

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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Final countdown”

From the March 9th 2024 edition

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