skip to main content

Body Detectives

51 minutes 54 seconds

Videos are generally available for preview to non-members as short clips. Limited full-length titles are also available. Log In to view the full length title.

Browse Full-length Non-member Titles
Two people wearing gloves and examining human bones. Caption: no bones were fractured.

At the Body Farm, the dead speak. Follows the world's first open-air crime lab with founder Bill Bass, of The University of Tennessee, for a close-up look at how cadavers decay. As proxies for murder victims, these decomposing bodies are studied in the name of science and the cause of justice. Talks about the factors and biological markers that help pinpoint time since death, including wind and weather, insects and carnivores, fire damage, soft tissue leachate, mold, and bacteria. Presents three homicide cases that hinged on data and expertise gained at the Farm, and shows Ph.D. students using forensic science and body processing. Shows human bodies in a variety of decomposition stages. Accessibility options on the DVD are: (1) audio description, (2) expanded description, (3) subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Media Details

Runtime: 51 minutes 54 seconds

Request a DVD
Members Only - Apply Now
Men in hazmat suits and firemen's uniforms sort through a pile of debris. Caption. The Explosives Unit is searching the wreckage.
51 minutes 7 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Black teenagers in white shirts, green bowties and cumberbands carrying a casket. Caption. Tommer as narrator. And when you're silent, you see what happens.
17 minutes 41 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
A man in a white lab coat looking into a microscope. Caption: Examination back in the lab can confirm the species of fern.
44 minutes 44 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Crowded hallway of walking teenage boys and girls. Caption. If kids talk about suicide or violence or things like that.
20 minutes 51 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Woman and man in taekwondo outfits with black belts. Caption. We want to emphasize the weapons you always have.
30 minutes 35 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Closeup of woman with short brown hair, red lipstick, hoop earrings, and a white collared shirt talking in front of several papers hanging from a cork board. Caption. School, or their parents.
Real Life Teens
Episode 4
21 minutes 26 seconds
Grade Level: 8 - 12
Black and white surveillance frame of a person wearing dark clothes and a backpack reaching down to open a door. Caption. To see through smoke and darkness.
12 minutes 33 seconds
Grade Level: 3 - 8
Black man wearing a prison uniform stands in front of a group of teenagers seated and directing their attention towards him.
1 hour 38 minutes
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Two people walking down a hallway. Caption: we chat with DNA scientist Bruce Jackson,
Scientists & Engineers On Sofas (And Other Furnishings)
Episode 1
7 minutes 12 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Closeup of woman, bent forward and speaking down at camera. Caption. We'll have fun. Come with me.
10 minutes 30 seconds
Grade Level: 2 - 5