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EXCLUSIVE: UK to open first ‘body farm’ for forensic research

Sites that allow the study of human remains have long existed in the United States and have started to appear recently in other countries.
  1. David Adam
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Forensic scientists are working with the British military to open the United Kingdom’s first body farm — a site where researchers will be able to study the decomposition of human remains.

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Nature 569, 167-168 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01436-8

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 09 May 2019: An earlier version of this story said that the UK body farm “still requires approval from the government’s Human Tissue Authority (HTA)”. But although the HTA might in future have the means to regulate such a facility, the opening of a body farm is not currently an activity licensable by the HTA. The story has been updated to clarify this distinction.

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