• medgremlin@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    I did my cadaver dissection last year in medical school, and you’ll probably be a better cadaver than you think. The worst one to deal with in the class was in the tank next to ours. The cadaver was 102 years old at time of death without a scrap of fat anywhere. The muscles dried out and fell apart almost immediately on dissection, and started growing mold over the winter break. The lab manager had to keep removing portions of the cadaver to try to limit the spread of the mold until all that group was left with was a head in a bucket of formaldehyde. The head, neck, and brain were the last dissections we did, so it worked out okay-ish, but I will never forget the absurdity of them ending up like a Futurama president.

      • medgremlin@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        If they are very lean, yeah, it can be a problem. Having a bit of adipose to absorb some of the formaldehyde and retain some moisture helps to keep the tissues from drying out. Once the body tissues dry out, they’re basically mummified and dissecting them would be about as useful and easy as dissecting jerky.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      For no reason whatsoever: if you received an email, activated by a dead man’s switch, that told you that the body coming in next buried treasure which you could find by solving a series of riddles, the first of which is respond to the email with what gum flavor was swallowed last, would you?