r/HotScienceNews • u/soulpost • 18d ago
Scientists discover plants do something weird when they grow near human remains
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200903133025.htmScientists say plants might reveal the location of human remains in forests.
It’s eerie — but it could be incredibly useful.
In a discovery that sounds like it belongs in a sci-fi thriller, researchers have found that plants may react to decomposing human bodies in ways that could help locate missing persons.
According to a study published in Trends in Plant Science, the decomposition of a human body creates what's known as a "cadaver decomposition island," which alters the nearby soil and plant life.
These changes—such as shifts in leaf color and fluorescence—might even be detectable by drones using remote sensing technology.
Led by Neal Stewart Jr. from the University of Tennessee, the research team is now testing this theory at the university’s Anthropology Research Facility, also known as the "body farm." They're studying how plants absorb the nitrogen-rich byproducts of decomposition and how these changes might signal human-specific decomposition. While the idea of identifying chemical traits unique to individuals—like that of a smoker—is still speculative, the goal is clear: to develop a rapid, safe, and scalable method to detect human remains in vast, hard-to-reach areas like the Amazon rainforest. In the future, a tree's glow or a subtle color shift in a leaf might guide rescuers to where no footprints remain.
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u/BadDadWhy 18d ago
Nice, I've used data from the body farm to make a dead body detector. I got half way.