# Practical uses for corpses **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213 "2018-04-11T14:12:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213/21 "2018-04-11T22:15:52Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > In _Waterworld_, corpses were IIRC [transformed into goo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_hydrolysis_(body_disposal)) and used as hydroponics fertilizer. Their hair was also removed (presumably to make cloth). You could also skin the bodies to make leather before recycling the rest into fertilizer. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213/22 "2018-04-11T22:34:20Z")
they actually use dead bodies to crash test cars along with the more well known crash test dummies. ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213/23 "2018-04-12T01:56:37Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I immediately thought of [body farms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm) which are a real thing that forensic scientists use as a way to study decomposition for the purpose of solving crimes. > > Since this is Cafe Society I’ll mention that a body farm was part of the plot on an episode of \*CSI \*and they have appeared in [numerous other](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm#In_popular_culture) forms of entertainment. Criminal’s June 2, 2017, podcast – [http://www.thisiscriminal.com/episode-68-all-the-time-in-the-world](http://www.thisiscriminal.com/episode-68-all-the-time-in-the-world) – was about TSU. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213/24 "2018-04-12T03:30:24Z")
The Walking Dead, as I recall, are basically able to keep shuffling along forever without sustenance. They’re basically free energy. Just put them all in a giant hamster wheel and you’ll never have to worry about power again. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213/25 "2018-04-12T05:08:51Z")
They can be used for surgical practice in real life. Some settings like DC’s Limbo Town reanimate the dead and use them as a labor force. I recall one novel where the locals distilled a liqueur named “Rotting Man” out of them. In \*The Court of a Thousand Suns \*the Tahn extract a powerful drug from the brains of corpses that died in extreme terror. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213/26 "2018-04-12T05:35:50Z")
They used to make [paint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_brown) from ground-up mummies, and it looked damn good too. Presumably the corpse has to be mummified or you wouldn’t get that dark, rich, creamy tone. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213/27 "2018-04-12T09:03:33Z")
In\* Midworld,\* the vegetative planetary overmind uses the brains of dead humans (who bury their dead in large trees as it happens) as the basis for growing itself a fully sapient forebrain-equivalant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-corpses/812213.md?page=1)