Kicked the bucket, given up the ghost, shuffled off this mortal coil, pushing up the daisies. All ghoulish euphemisms for death. But scientists have found that the last one might be inaccurate as well as a bit grim. When bodies decompose, they push up fungi, not daisies.
Ever heard of Eurotium chevalieri, Eurotium repens or Gliocladium? Me neither till now. They're all types of fungi that typically grow on decomposing corpses. Studying the 'behaviour' of dead bodies isn't that new. They've been doing it at the Body Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee for a good few years. At this facility bodies are placed in various conditions and left to rot and then studied. This is all meant to help crime scene investigators (the farm has actually featured in CSI and inspired a Patricia Cornwell book), and is more about identification of bodies and modes of death than science. This new piece of research, to be published in the journal Legal Medicine, represents "the first to describe in detail species of fungi obtained from human corpses." Clearly, it's useful work, but I'm glad someone else is doing it, not me!
By the way, if you want to donate your body to the Body Farm, here's an FAQ from the University of Knoxville. Word of warning, if you don't already live in Knoxville you'll have to cover the costs of transportation yourself...
Via ABC Australia. (PHOTO: LEGLEY)
That explains the old song by Ghoul & the Gang ("Can't get enough of that fungi stuff").
Posted by: MT | May 29, 2006 at 11:06 PM
I was trying to think of a headline based around the ole joke but I couldn't. So I'll just have to write a version of it here.
Q: Why did the tomato invite the mushroom to the party?
A: Because he's a fungi!
Ha ha ha. Sorry.
Posted by: Katie | May 30, 2006 at 01:55 AM
This article is on a similar theme:
"Mushrooms and taphonomy: the fungi that mark woodland graves
Two closely related chemoecological groups of fungi, the ammonia fungi and the postputrefaction fungi, have been associated with the decomposition by-products of cadavers. Sporocarps have been observed in disparate woodlands across the world and often mark sites of graves. These groups of fungi provide visible markers of the sites of cadaver decomposition and follow repeated patterns of successional change as apparent decomposition proceeds. We suggest these phenomena may become a useful tool for crime scene investigation, forensic archaeology and forensic taphonomy."
Free PDF: http://www.fungi4schools.org/Reprints/Mycologist_articles/Post-16/Environment/V17pp020-024forensic_fungal_ecology.pdf
Posted by: Lukas | May 30, 2006 at 02:31 AM
Look on the brightside - if you don't live in Knoxville, you'll only have to buy a one way ticket. In fact, it's probably cheaper that cremation.
Posted by: Sanescientist | May 30, 2006 at 06:58 PM
There is a mushroom similar to the one with the white stem and red top with white spots in our pasture. Only ours has an orange top and it is bigger than this one pictured. I'm wondering if it is poisonous as we pasture our horses there sometimes and I don't want to put them back in that pasture until we get rid of the mushrooms if they are poisonous. Can anyone tell me?
Posted by: Delores | October 18, 2007 at 01:36 PM