Tagged Toes and Green Thumbs

Some people don’t know what they want to do with their lives until it’s too late (ex. your average CSI victim). Others start heading down their chosen career paths at an early age (your average CSI detective, for example).

Then there are folks like Dr. William Bass, who spend their days examining the decomposing corpses of murder victims for a living.

OK, so Bill Bass isn't exactly average. A dedicated anthropologist and forensic pathologist, Dr. Bass has been running the Body Farm in Knoxville, TN for nearly four decades. For Dr. Bass and his colleagues, every day is part Law & Order: SVU, part Dexter and all business as they examine the ways nature breaks down the human body — in a criminal-minded context, of course.

Don't Fear the Reaper

When you study death and decay on a regular basis, you develop some pretty nifty tips and tricks to get you through the day. Here are some of our faves:

• Black Plastic. Can’t stop the body rot; in fact, you want to keep it going ‘til the break of dawn. Maggots help that happen, but they’re not big fans of sunlight. Wrap a corpse in black plastic to get those worms in the mood to eat some food.
• Human Skeletons. If you hope to know your way around a cadaver, this’ll be your main frame of reference. FYI, bone donors tend to be academics themselves (guess you could say they’re teaching the next generation of students from beyond the grave).
• Body Sniffer. As the human body decomposes, it gives off over 500 different kinds of fatty acid compounds, each containing a wealth of information. This vacuum-shaped machine detects and stores all of this info for posterity.

Investigate the Scene

Want morbid? Take a look at some images from the Body Farm.

Future Body Farmers of America

The Body Farm is more than just a morbidly fascinating place: it’s an institution where, researchers maintain data banks full of information that is quietly revolutionizing the way we understand how the human body breaks down. As forensics and criminology continue to evolve, a resource like the Body Farm only becomes more and more indispensable to our progress.

The Afterlife Playlist

We've put together a li'l musical tribute to the men and women who work their fingers to the bone at the Body Farm. Check it out!

Motherboard: Afterlife

Watch more on Body Farm:

Body Farm Part 2: Digging in the Dirt

Body Farm Part 3: What's That Smell?

What is Motherboard?

Learn about the cultural technology revolution that's taking place right now.

Tennessee may be known for its cotton, but it’s beginning to build a rep for another kind of agriculture. At the Body Farm in Knoxville, there’s always a bumper crop of cadavers waiting to be harvested.

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