Austrian researchers have developed a new method to determine the time of death up to ten days after its occurrence.
The detective series will have to update their scenarios. Because within a few years, the panoply of forensic pathologists could well contain a new instrument: a modern test to accurately establish the time of death.
10 days after death
Austrian researchers at the University of Salzburg have indeed developed this new generation test that would determine the time of death up to ten days after the death of a human, while current methods are only effective. 36 hours after the end of life.
The results of this work were published in the journal International Journal of Legal Medicine and presented during the Annual Experimental Biology Conference held in Prague until July 3.
“Once the body has cooled to room temperature, there is a huge lack of a reliable method to determine the time of death,” said author Peter Steinbacher, whose comments are reported by the BBC website. Indeed, the temperature of a corpse decreases by 1.5 degrees per hour, until it reaches that of its environment. “It can take between one and two days,” says the author. Beyond that, the measurements remain very hazardous.
Breakdown of muscles
However, according to the team of researchers, it is possible to assess the time of death from another organic manifestation: the breakdown of proteins and muscle enzymes. Indeed, our muscles are made up of molecules linked together. At the time of death, some break off and disintegrate into small pieces, each at a specific time. Likewise, the chemical compounds produced by decomposition remain in the body for some time. “If you determine what elements are present in your sample, then you can establish when the individual died,” says Peter Steinbacher.
The first observations of this study took place on pigs, due to their genetic, physiological and anatomical similarity to humans. The researchers also analyzed around 60 tissues from dead humans, from the university’s forensic medicine department.
“We need more samples to determine whether gender, body mass index, temperature or even humidity play a role in the time it takes for muscles to decompose,” explains the researcher, who hopes that these new tests can serve as hard evidence for forensic investigations within three years.
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