What happens after death

[Life]

(cut)

What happens after death?

So when it comes to death, what are we sure of? Well we know what happens to your body from the moment you leave it. Unless frozen or mummified, dead bodies inevitably decompose.

As soon as the heart stops, gravity takes hold. Sometimes only minutes after death, a purple stain appears where the blood settles in the lowermost parts of the body. The skin and muscles sag, the body cools, and within 2 to 6 hours rigor mortis sets in.

Starting with a stiffening of the muscles in the eyelids, it spreads throughout the body before the muscles relax again. Rigor mortis can last between 1-4 days depending on various factors, not least the ambient temperature.

Two or three days after death, the body starts to putrefy. Bacteria which normally inhabit the body, especially the bowel, take over. The first sign of putrefaction is a green discolouration, which eventually spreads over most of the body before turning it purple and finally black.

Decomposition and deduction
Bacteria in the intestine produce a rank-smelling gas which bloats the body and makes the eyes bulge. A week after death, blood-coloured blisters appear on the skin and the slightest pressure causes the top layer to slip off. After 3 to 4 weeks, the hair, nails and teeth loosen, and the internal organs disintegrate before turning to liquid.

Finally, nothing is left but the skeleton.

Disposing of your body
And then there's the question of what to do with your body once you no longer inhabit it. The choices are endless: you can be buried in a coffin in the ground, or cremated, and now there are more environmentally friendly ways to go: you can have your body freeze-dried and then shattered to make a soil-enriching powder, or have a woodland burial �?????�????�???�??�?�¢?? where your body is wrapped in a cloth and left in the soil to provide compost. Or perhaps you might want to be put on public display, or have your ashes turned into a strange work of art with its own mortality - or being a New Scientist reader, you might fancy donating your body to science.


18:00 10 October 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Jo Marchant
Lucy Middleton

[Life]

(cut)

What happens after death?

So when it comes to death, what are we sure of? Well we know what happens to your body from the moment you leave it. Unless frozen or mummified, dead bodies inevitably decompose.

As soon as the heart stops, gravity takes hold. Sometimes only minutes after death, a purple stain appears where the blood settles in the lowermost parts of the body. The skin and muscles sag, the body cools, and within 2 to 6 hours rigor mortis sets in.

Starting with a stiffening of the muscles in the eyelids, it spreads throughout the body before the muscles relax again. Rigor mortis can last between 1-4 days depending on various factors, not least the ambient temperature.

Two or three days after death, the body starts to putrefy. Bacteria which normally inhabit the body, especially the bowel, take over. The first sign of putrefaction is a green discolouration, which eventually spreads over most of the body before turning it purple and finally black.

Decomposition and deduction
Bacteria in the intestine produce a rank-smelling gas which bloats the body and makes the eyes bulge. A week after death, blood-coloured blisters appear on the skin and the slightest pressure causes the top layer to slip off. After 3 to 4 weeks, the hair, nails and teeth loosen, and the internal organs disintegrate before turning to liquid.

Finally, nothing is left but the skeleton.

Disposing of your body
And then there's the question of what to do with your body once you no longer inhabit it. The choices are endless: you can be buried in a coffin in the ground, or cremated, and now there are more environmentally friendly ways to go: you can have your body freeze-dried and then shattered to make a soil-enriching powder, or have a woodland burial �?????�????�???�??�?�¢?? where your body is wrapped in a cloth and left in the soil to provide compost. Or perhaps you might want to be put on public display, or have your ashes turned into a strange work of art with its own mortality - or being a New Scientist reader, you might fancy donating your body to science.


18:00 10 October 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Jo Marchant
Lucy Middleton

[IntellectualWarfare1]

I wonder how long would it take for someone to be turned into dust.