Time Magazine has a feature on new technology that could lead to a bite-mark database. Forensic odontology has been used in cases in the past, most notoriously with the prosecution of serial killer Ted Bundy, but since 2000, at least seven people in five states who were convicted largely on bite-mark identification have been exonerated. The breakthrough that Marquette University scientists think they've uncovered is a computer program which catalogs characteristics, including tooth widths, missing teeth and spaces between teeth. The program calculates how frequently or infrequently each characteristic appears. Team leader Dr. L. Thomas Johnson acknowledges that the software will probably never turn bite-mark analysis into a surefire identifier like DNA and he'd need tens of thousands of samples before his work would stand up in court.
If the thought of bite marks seems a bit macabre to you, then you probably won't want to read further. (Warning for the faint of heart -- turn back now.) There's a new trend afoot in mortuary science to dissolve bodies in lye as opposed to cremation or burial. The process, called alkaline hydrolysis, was developed in this country 16 years ago to get rid of animal carcasses and uses lye, 300-degree heat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch to destroy bodies in big stainless-steel cylinders that are similar to pressure cookers. The process leaves a dry bone residue similar in appearance and volume to cremated remains, which could be returned to the family, as well as a brownish, syrupy residue which is flushed down the drain--that may have a huge "ick" factor, but the residue is actually sterile and environmentally friendly.
Of course, to the mind of a crime fiction author, this stirs up all kinds of plot possibilities...
