Flatulence Conquers Evil

Right before we discovered the pelvic bone the trowel hit a soft spot in the soil and this liquid goo, the consistency of melted milky chocolate, started to ooze and bubble out from the ground giving off an odour that I can only describe as “ehhck”. What we had come upon was a pocket of methane, a flammable gas that is a by-product of carcass decomposition. Methane is produced by bacteria as they break down matter from within the animal’s intestines. It is the same bacterium that live in the intestines of living creatures and causes flatulence. Methane emissions from decaying carcasses interest professor Margaret Kalacska from the geography department. As methane is a by product of decomposition it can also be used as an indicator for mass burial sites, which could be useful in finding mass human genocide graves which can then be used as evidence to prosecute the people responsible. There are about 20 methane collars placed around the site which measure methane levels in the air and the soil. These collars will help professor Kalacska understand how carcass decay and the environment contribute to different rates of methane emissions. Who knew that flatulence could be so useful?