The body donation industry is unregulated. There was a whole series of articles about it. They use deliberately misleading language in their contracts so that most people have no idea that their loved one's body may be sold to the military. It's really messed up.
Mary Roach has a novel about human cadavers and it is fascinating. One of the take aways is the fact and law in the US that "you can donate your body to science, but you cannot dictate what is done with it".
Stiff! It's so good! My least favorite part was learning that when a cadaver's stomach rips open due to a buildup of gasses it sounds like a bowl of rice krispies.
My favorite part was in the plane crash chapter when she describes humans and Dungeness crab as the two species that can never get enough of eating each other. God damn it, I really love eating Dungeness crab, but now I get to think about that passage when I do.
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u/theemmyk May 05 '26
The body donation industry is unregulated. There was a whole series of articles about it. They use deliberately misleading language in their contracts so that most people have no idea that their loved one's body may be sold to the military. It's really messed up.