Lauren Meckel

Well, usually when someone calls, they say something along the lines of, I'm interested in donating my body to science.

And I hear that you take bodies.

And so I let them know about the Forensic Anthropology Center and how their body can help identify missing persons.

And they usually get very excited about that.

And

They ask about some of the research projects they were doing, specifically about the vulture studies.

People are really interested in vulture consumption of human remains.

Like they want to be part of that study or they do not want to be part of that study?

Many people actually are very interested in being part of that study.

They see it as a sky burial.

So it's something that seems peaceful, I suppose.

Yes, and usually people are surprised by how long it takes to, because sometimes it can be six months if we're doing a study where someone dropped in a tarp, for instance, and they skeletonized really quickly and then we can pick them up really fairly soon after their death.

But for the most part, they stay out there for about two years.