The Austrians developed an improved method for calculating the time of death
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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To date, the time of death can be determined only if a person died no more than 36 hours ago (1.5 days), but at one of the universities in Austria, specialists developed a new unique method that allows you to find out the time of death even after 10 days.
The new method was developed at the University of Salzburg, a team of researchers said that due to their method it will be possible to learn the approximate time of death, even if 240 hours have passed since the death.
In the language of forensic experts and forensic experts, the time of death is termed the prescription of death, but even using all the latest technologies and developments in this field, it is impossible to determine the time of death if the corpse is more than one and a half days (about 36 hours the body's temperature reaches ambient temperature).
After a series of experiments, Austrian experts noted that the new method can be used to determine the time of death in humans, despite the fact that while all the tests were carried out on laboratory animals.
In the course of their work, Austrian experts observed the transformation of proteins and enzymes that occurred in the corpses of pigs. Taking into account the results of the experiments, the specialists developed a technology for determining the duration of death, while achieving a significant increase in the timing.
The researchers managed to find out that some of the proteins (such as actinin, trypomiosin) are not affected by any transformations even after 10 days from the date of death. Scientists suggest that all proteins in the muscles begin to transform at regular intervals from the moment of death of the body. This discovery of the researchers may indicate that the time of death can be calculated even if the death occurred quite a long time (but not more than 10 days ago).
The lead author of the research project Peter Steinbacher explained that certain products of protein breakdown begin to appear only after some time since the death of the body, having studied the time of their appearance, it will be possible to calculate the prescription of the onset of death. At this stage, experts have started to study the tissues of the human body, and 60 samples have already been analyzed.
As it turned out, the same changes occur in the tissues of the human body and the same decay products are formed, which were revealed in experiments on pigs' corpses.
According to Steinbacher, the analysis of tissues after the onset of death will be an entirely new approach, but now the team of researchers sees in this a number of advantages.
First of all, the tissue in the muscles is the most common in the human body, so taking samples from this tissue is the best option for researchers.
Also, the proteins in such tissues are well studied, and the new method for calculating the time of death is fairly simple and does not take much time (all for analysis will take an average of 20 hours).
But before the new method is used by forensic scientists, a number of studies should be carried out, in particular, scientists need to determine the factors that can cause inaccuracy in the calculations.