Society for Science & the Public, which publishes Science News, uses cookies to personalize your experience and improve our services. For more information on how we use cookies on our websites, visit our Cookie Policy.
News Genetics

Genes could record forensic clues to time of death

How our genetic machinery winds down may one day help solve criminal cases

body in morgue

FORENSIC LENS  A new approach to determining a body’s time of death looks for patterns in genes that are active after death.

PixHound/Shutterstock

By Erika Engelhaupt

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Genetics

  1. SARS-CoV-2 virus
    Genetics

    No, the coronavirus wasn’t made in a lab. A genetic analysis shows it’s from nature

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  2. longfin inshore squid
    Genetics

    Squid edit their genetic material in a uniquely weird place

    By Erin Garcia de Jesus
  3. Jennifer Doudna
    Genetics

    ‘Human Nature’ offers CRISPR novices a basic introduction

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  4. Homo erectus skull
    Humans

    The earliest known hominid interbreeding occurred 700,000 years ago

    By Bruce Bower
  5. Life

    How African turquoise killifish press the pause button on aging

    By Erin Garcia de Jesus
  6. Brazil soldiers meet plane of people from Wuhan, China
    Health & Medicine

    Coronavirus’s genetic fingerprints are used to rapidly map its spread

    By Laura Sanders
  7. cat smizing
    Animals

    With a litter of tactics, scientists work to tame cat allergies

    By Erika Engelhaupt
  8. Mende people in Sierra Leone
    Humans

    Some West Africans may have genes from an ancient ‘ghost’ hominid

    By Bruce Bower

From the Nature Index

Paid Content