How are dead human bodies utilized?
From dissection labs to car crash tests and human composting.
The True Nature of Death as the Body's "Second Life"

Highly recommended by author Kim Gyul-wool of 'Winter Bookstore'
Strongly recommended by Won-taek Lee, former Professor Emeritus of the Department of Anatomy at Yonsei University and Chairman of the Korean Society of Anatomy
#1 Bestseller in Amazon's Forensic Science Category
New York Times bestseller

We think of death as the end of everything, but there are countless paths our bodies can take after we die.
I'm not just talking about the more well-known options, like becoming a medical student's intern or donating an organ.
The bodies of dead people can be used in experiments to test the safety of automobiles and can even assist in scientific investigations.
It can even be used as a medicinal herb or compost material to feed and sustain living beings.
In this way, the roles that a dead body can take on in this world are endless.

"The Dead Body Becomes Science" is the result of Mary Roach, America's leading science journalist, personally exploring this new aspect of death.
The author demonstrates his unique ability to explain difficult topics in an accessible manner, skillfully weaving together vast historical data, scientific knowledge, and firsthand field reports to present a detailed account of the various uses of the dead body.
Beginning with an intellectual exploration of the uses of the dead body and culminating in a series of journeys that question human dignity, this book will allow us to encounter a world of life and death that has previously been beyond our view.

Surgeons weren't the only ones who were at the forefront of developing every surgical procedure, from heart transplants to sex-reassignment surgery.
The corpse has always been quietly creating medical history in its own way, piece by piece.
For 2,000 years, cadavers have been willingly or unknowingly participating in one of the boldest steps in the history of science.
--- p.10

In the heyday of the British School of Anatomy, such rational and painful emotions were rare.
The most common method used was to sneak into graveyards and dig up and study other people's relatives.
People called this behavior "corpse-raiding," and it was a new crime, different from grave robbing, which involved stealing valuables and treasures buried in the tombs or ossuaries of the rich.
However, at that time, if you were caught with a corpse's cufflinks, you were considered a criminal, but if you were caught with the corpse itself, you were not punished in any way.
Before the advent of anatomy schools, there were no laws against stealing a recently deceased human being.
--- p.54

Let's turn our attention to the corruption process.
The fluid flowing out of the cells destroyed by the enzyme now flows through the body.
Soon, this liquid encounters bacteria within the body, the foot soldiers that promote the process of putrefaction.
These bacteria are those that exist inside living bodies.
These are mainly those that live in places that come into contact with the outside world, such as the intestines, lungs, and skin.
Life looks rosy for these single-celled friends now.
They were already benefiting greatly from the human immune system's inactivity, and as the cells lining the internal organs were destroyed, they were buried in the porridge-like food that flowed out.
Food is pouring down like rain.
As is always the case in times of abundance, their numbers swell.
--- p.84

But let's think about it rationally.
Why is it acceptable to cut off my grandfather's thigh with a chainsaw, package the severed leg, send it to the lab, hang it on a hook, and hit it with a mock car bumper, but not acceptable to send his entire body to the lab for use? Why would cutting off his leg first be less offensive and less sacrilegious? --- p.141

He finds it easier to deal with severed hands, legs, and pieces of flesh that most of us find difficult to handle or even imagine seeing.

“A corpse in that state is just tissue.
“I handle my work with that kind of mindset.”
It's miserable, but not sad.
You get used to the misery.
But I can't get used to a ruined life.
Shanahan uses the methods of pathologists.

“They focus on the part, not the person.
During the autopsy, they describe the condition of the eyes and then the mouth.
You don't stand back and say, 'This is the body of a father of four.'
“That’s the only way to survive emotionally.”
However, an intact body is the most useful clue in determining whether a bomb has exploded.
--- p.154

H doesn't look like a dead person, nor does he smell like a dead person.
If you lean over the wheat and look closely, you can see her pulse beating in her artery.
When I touch his arm, it feels warm and elastic, just like my own.
Perhaps this is why the doctors and nurses call H "patient" and push him into the operating room with a brisk pace, as if they were carrying a living person.

In the United States, brain death is defined as legal death, so Person H is recognized as dead.
However, organs and tissues H are very active and alive.
These two seemingly contradictory facts give her an opportunity most corpses don't have.
In other words, it's a chance to extend the lives of a couple of dying strangers.
--- p.222

She thinks similarly about corpses.

“Death is the possibility of new life.
The body changes into something different.
“I want to make that other thing as positive as possible.”
People have accused her of reducing the dead to the level of garden waste.
She sees it from a slightly different perspective.

“What I mean is, let’s raise the value of garden waste to the same level as human bodies.”
What she means is that anything organic should not be treated as trash.
Everything must be recycled.
--- p.349

The body inside the barrel looked peaceful.
Just as a guinea pig the size of a police dog feels unnecessarily scary, the idea of ​​a corpse being processed into synthetic resin seems scarier than it actually is.
We just lie there in the barrel, absorbing the polymer and being preserved.
After the polymer treatment, someone takes us out and poses us like a Yuto doll.
Then, when you rub the catalyst into your skin, the catalyst begins to penetrate into the tissue and the hardening process begins.
This way, the dead body is preserved permanently.

--- p.385