# Donating Your Body To Science: Does Science Have Too Many Bodies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346 "2020-10-06T15:53:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346/41 "2020-10-09T19:13:53Z")
Personally, what I’d consider ideal would be one of those museum exhibits where they plasticize a corpse, slice it up, and stack it in sheets of acrylic. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2020, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346/42 "2020-10-10T08:00:11Z")
Indeed, donating my body to _art_ is how I plan my final encore. I even have [the venue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Bad_Art) picked out. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346/43 "2020-10-10T17:00:06Z")
I’d buy a ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346/44 "2020-10-10T19:37:48Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > I even have [the venue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Bad_Art) picked out. Oh, my. That is now on my bucket list. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346/45 "2020-10-10T20:58:40Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’d buy a ticket. > [@Yllaria](#): > > Oh, my. That is now on my bucket list. I know! Right?!? Why donate your body to science when the most likely outcome is having a group of silly 1st year medical students poke fun at your _naughty bits_ during gross anatomy lab? (it happens, I know). …they just don’t understand that the embalming process creates a _great_ deal of “shrinkage.” …and, there’s a big difference, size-wise, between flaccid-state and erect-state! Right? I can’t guarantee I’ll be “_aroused_” at the precise moment I die. So, y’know, along with that desiccating _“embalming”_ thing, there’s a _tiny_ (no pun intended) chance I won’t _“measure up”_, so to speak… All things considered, it’s safer to donate your body to _Art_ than _Science_. Maybe “abstract” Art. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346/46 "2020-10-11T05:49:59Z")
You can. My sister-in-law’s father, at some point after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, donated his body to the local university medical center so they could do research on his brain. It was kid of difficult for the family in one sense - they didn’t get back his remains for a long time after that, to the extent that they arranged a memorial service more than a year later with the intent that everyone could go see where his “class” (the people who had donated their bodies all around the same time) could see where their remains had been buried, but the class wasn’t there by the time of the memorial. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346/47 "2020-10-11T07:02:48Z")
I worked in the office at mortuary during the day and did “removals” at night. Human bodies can be kept in the reefer for years. Every few years, they would take the unclaimed bodies, cremate them and scatter their ashes at sea. The reefer is cold, but definitely not a freezer. The bodies are still soft to the touch. A co-worker’s mother donated her body and at least in her agreement, whether her body was used for research or not, she would be cremated rand eturned to the family after one year. Also, it wasn’t a, “Once we dissect her, we’ll return her.”. It was for a full year for various purposes. According to this [article](https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-happens-to-your-body-when-its-donated-to-science#So,-what-exactly-happens-when-you-donate-your-body-to-science?), the average term is 2-3 years. I highly suspect that depending on the disaster, e.g. drownings or those who die from Covid or AID or anything that may cause the bodies to have possible contagions, the bodies wouldn’t be accepted. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346/48 "2020-10-11T08:28:38Z")
I don’t know - can you GET a viral disease from a dead body? I don’t mean, like, still warm & fresh - I mean after hours or days in a refrigerator. Wouldn’t the virus be dead in the absence of a living host? Surely being pickled in formaldehyde would eliminate all that. Do they still use formaldehyde to preserve tissue that’s being studied further? Or does that destroy too much useful information? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donating-your-body-to-science-does-science-have-too-many-bodies/922346.md?page=2)