THE fire started with a match held under a cotton blanket close to the man's waist. Within 2 minutes, the flames had spread across the single bed he was lying on and were consuming his cotton sweatshirt and trousers.
Around a dozen onlookers were at the scene - including police, fire investigators and
death investigators - yet all they did was watch. That was, after all, their job. The "victim" had in fact died some time ago, having previously donated his remains to medical research.
![Elayne Pope's group spends its time setting fire to corpses in a range of different circumstances, to work out exactly how the human body burns (Image: <a href=]()
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His body had reached a unique team led by
Elayne Pope, a forensic scientist at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. Her group spends its time setting fire to corpses in a range of different circumstances, to work out exactly how the human body burns.
Many people die in house fires,
car fires, or as a result of arson
So what happens after they light the fire?
clipped from: www.newscientist.com 