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Sample Writing
Making a Face The rest of the clues would come from the skull. The skull shows
the shape of the face and how the eyes, nose and mouth are placed.
Forensic artists use a chart to calculate how much tissue (fat,
muscle and skin) is likely to be on each part of the skull. Feel
your face with your fingertips. How much soft tissue is on your
cheeks, your forehead or the tip of your nose? The pictures below
show a skull reconstruction in progress. Maggots Under the Microscope Did you know that maggots can help the police solve crimes? When police want to know when a death occurred, and the body has been dead for more than a few days, they call in a forensic entomolgist. A forensic entomologist studies the insects that live on a dead body. Evidence on the Wing What happens if you leave a piece of meat on the kitchen table? It doesn't take long before flies land on it. A dead body also attracts flies. The first arrive within 24 hours, and sometimes in minutes. These flies are looking for a place to lay their eggs where their larvae (young flies) will have food. Different kinds of flies arrive at different times as the body cools and decomposes. Some won't arrive until the body has been dead for several months. A fly goes through several stages during its life. Forensic entomologists examine the insects on a corpse to identify the species and the stage of their life cycle. For example, empty pupal cases show that a fly has gone through a complete life cycle on the body. Clues like this help entomologists figure out exactly how long the body has been dead. |
