For years, cadaver dogs have been trained and used to detect and recover bodies in natural disasters. They are considered the gold standard but the time and effort put into training each dog is huge. As a result, forensic scientists have been trying to develop a portable device that uses the chemicals given off by decomposing bodies to find human bodies buried at crime scenes and in disasters. At the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Dr. Dan Sykes stated, “if there was a device that was as effective [as cadaver dogs] for a fraction of the cost, that would be something worth pursuing.” Dr. Dan Sykes has collaborated with Sarah A. Jones, a graduate student, to create this device that is so desperately needed.
In order to create this device scientists must first identify the gases that are given off by decomposing bodies not only under “perfect” conditions, but also under a variety of natural environmental conditions. Along with the identification of these chemical gases, a time sequence by hour and day must be included to figure out how long the body has been decomposing. When bodies go through decomposition, more than 30 chemical compounds are released such as putrescine and cadaverine, which both develop relatively early in the decomposition process.
Although some human bodies have been donated for testing, all the chemical compounds released cannot be recorded because the bodies are usually two to three days old. As a result, scientists have used pigs as models. According to Jones, pigs are good models because “they go through the same phases of decomposition as humans, as well as the same number of stages. And those stages last about as long in pigs as they do in humans before complete decomposition occurs and only the bones remain.” To perform their experiment, Sykes and Jones placed multiple pigs in different environmental conditions in specially designed odor-collecting units. Each unit was equipped with sensors known as solid phase micro extraction (SPME) fibers to capture gases. These fibers have been used in the past to sample the chemical composition of air. Odor data from the pigs was collected every six to twelve hours over the course of one week. From this testing, Sykes and Jones found that in days one to three precursors to indole are found and on the third day indole and putrescine are found. Sykes’ and Jones’ research is still on going (they are doing more experiments and tests) using a variety of different scenarios to re-construct the different ways human bodies could decompose, creating a more concrete picture of decomposition.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090816211837.htm
6 comments:
I thought this review was very interesting and three things I really liked about it where how cadaver dogs may be replaced by this new device they are studying, the idea that there is a smell of death which can help in investigations, and with this device it will also help which stage in decomposition a body is going through due to the chemicals which are released.
Two things i would reccomend would be to state some more of the chemicals which are released in decomposition and what stages they can be identified in. I would also suggest it explain how dogs can locate bodies and what abilities or scents do they pick up to help an investigation.
Finally one aspect I really liked was how this "Smell of Death" and the replacement of cadaver dogs with this new and more efficient device can help the field of forensics.
One good thing about this article is they give you the specific type of dog. Another good thing is it gives a reason why using dogs has become somewhat obsolete. The final thing that was good about this article was it gave an experts opinion. One thing that could have been improved was it could have given specific gases that this device would pick up. Another thing that could have been improved was they should give us the location and conditions where the bodies were being discomposed. One thing I learned was that humans and pigs have very similar body types to humans.
Three things I liked:
I liked how the article described that the smeel of death will be able to tell the stage of decomposition. Another thing I liked was how it talked about the cost of training the dogs that have been being used for years. the last thing i liked was how the article talked about which of the two things are better.
Two thing I would reccomend:
I would suggest that the article decribe how this "new" smell location is better than the dogs. I would also suggest that the article show which chemicals are released.
One thing I liked about this article:
I really liked how it shows which how the new technique is replacing what the cadaver dogs once did.
Three things I liked were how the dogs could soon be replaced by a new device that does not use animals. It was well explained how a "smell of death" can help investigations. Also, how it showed how the chemicals that are released in a bodies decompisition can be "smelt."
Two things that i would reccomend be improved were to give a more in depth of the chemicals released by the body. Also, an explination of the process of how the body is found by the dogs compared to the device.
I learned that there soon could be no use for dogs and that a device could take over and be more accurate.
this article is very interesting. i liked how it showed how researchers can actually use the smell of death as evidence in a case. i liked how it described the use of dogs in these situations but even more so how they are now being replaced. i also liked how these machiones can determine the chemicals and toxins through the smell. i wish this article went into more detail of the stages and chemicals of decomposition. i wish it also included more on why this machine should replace dogs. i like how this article describes how scientists are becoming more and more efficient in specific fields of forencis science.
I thought this review was very interesting and three things I really liked about it were how cadaver dogs may be replaced by this new device they are studying. Also, the idea that there is a smell of death which can help in investigations and with this device it will also help which stage in decomposition a body is going through due to the chemicals which are released. Two things I would recommend would be to state some more of the chemicals which are released in decomposition and what stages they can be identified in. I would also suggest explaining how dogs can locate bodies and what scents they pick up to help an investigation. Finally one aspect I really liked was how this "Smell of Death" and the replacement of cadaver dogs with this new and more efficient device can help the field of forensics and forensic scientists.
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