Real-Life Communication -- Solution
Here's what's wrong with each statement:
- Many things can cause a body to decompose quickly. Two of the main things are water and heat. Just because the body is badly decomposed doesn't necessarily mean it has been outdoors a long time.
- If the person was murdered, their body might have been dumped in the woods days or weeks after the murder. It could have been kept somewhere cool so no deterioration occurred. The stage of the insects only suggests how long the body has been outdoors, not how long the person has been dead.
- Again, if the person was murdered, their body might have recently been dumped in the woods. The insects suggest how long a body has been in a specific location, not necessarily how long the person has been dead.
Forensic entomologists need to be excellent communicators. They need to understand their science and explain it to others.
"You can be a brilliant forensic scientist, but if you can't communicate that, it's useless," says forensic entomologist Gail Anderson.
Forensic entomologists testify as expert witnesses in trials. They need to calmly and clearly explain the results of their research to the jury.
"The counsel is going to try and confuse you. He or she is going to ask you very confusing questions, if they've done their homework," Anderson says. "You're going to have to translate those into something that is understandable to the jury."
Forensic entomologists also need to communicate in very technical terms. They speak at conferences and publish papers on their research.
"You must publish -- publish or perish," Anderson says. "You must be able to write at an academic level because you must publish in an academic journal. If you don't, the court is going to say your science is useless [because] it's not published, it's not peer-reviewed."