Portable Time of Death Device

Advancements in the world of forensic science have recently been invested into developing a device that will allow forensic scientists to find a body and estimate a time of death immediately on the scene. In theory this device will detect gasses released by the body immediately upon death, allowing for the discovery of bodies more efficiently than before.

The need for such a device has been brought about by the problems that arise from relying primarily on cadaver dogs for body searches. In simple murder or accident cases, such dogs can be very useful as they are very reliable. Though when the scale is magnified, such as in disasters involving tornadoes or earthquakes, where many bodies need to be found as quickly as possible. the game changes dramatically. In such cases, the dogs become expensive, time consuming, and prone to error from fatigue. The devices being developed would be much more cost effective and all around accurate.

Scientists are developing these devices by doing research on freshly donated bodies and pigs, which decompose at extraordinarily similar rates and in identical stages to humans. They have so far discovered that the body releases over 30 different gases upon death, and are currently working to identify and classify and all of them according to how long they appear after death. It will be interesting to see how the study on developing this device will proceed.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090816211837.htm