Content Warning: heavy discussion of death, decomposition, and impolite body functions.
I believe it was Imhotep in 1999’s The Mummy who said "Death is only the beginning…", and he was right! Not in the sense of returning from the realm of the dead to fight Brendan Fraser, but in the sense that death turns an organism’s mortal shell into a entirely new sort of ecosystem. In this grisly-yet-surprisingly-positive episode, Nicole walks us through the science of decomposition, how it’s applied to everything from solving crimes to food freshness, and why we couldn’t live in a world without decay.
Nicole’s Sources:
- LET THINGS ROT (the YouTube video Nicole was talking about): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI_-eUOgqFI
- Australian Museum. 2025. Stages of decomposition. CW: pictures of decomposing pigs.
- Matuszewski, S. 2021. Post-Mortem Interval Estimation Based on Insect Evidence: Current Challenges. National Library of Medicine.
- Nowakowski, K. 2025. These beetles eat rotting flesh—and could unlock the next generation of antibiotics. National Geographic.
- Australia’s Defining Moments: Digital Classroom. Can we solve the poo problem?
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