Just came back from two days in Dearborn where I spend considerable time hearing about new vehicle safety technology. Very interesting E36 M3e for sure. Learned one thing that had me struck speechless, for at least a second (which is really saying something). Now, if I'd really thought about this, I'm sure it would come as no surprise. It does make sense.
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/content/investigative/story/Government-Videos-Raise-Cadaver-Questions/BXvCGwyYkU6A1cWx70RRAA.cspx
Yeah... heck, that's not half as gross as what they do to determine the injury criteria for the test dummies...
(hint - imagine a hack saw and press - consecutively, not simultaneously)
Shudder. The worst thing I came across was the testing to see how much force the skull could withstand. Picture a downwards catapult into a steel plate.
Where do I sign up? Where do I sign up with a clause that I can only be used in sports cars or fighter jets?
I love this line
When NBC Action News watched the impact test videos carefully, side-by-side, it was difficult to see a difference between the human corpse in one video and the traditional crash test dummy in the other.
Well, if the experts at NBC can tell how something performs just by looking at it, why have scientists, doctors, engineers, hockey coaches, astronomers or anything? Clearly, by simply looking at something, you are immediately qualified to tell how it performs. I saw a shuttle launch; I suppose this means I just qualified for NASA.
Yep, Wayne State in Detroit is one of the few crash test labs that still tests with cadavers. Donate your body to science & it might end up there ;)
Kendall
Yeah. I'd heard about this.
If you want to find out about all the interesting ways that corpses are use, you need to read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
One of the more fascinating uses is a facility where people just dump bodies in various parts of the environment. They use it to examine exactly what happens to a dead body over time so forensics can know how to gauge time of death.
Also, most bodies that go towards medical training get hacked up into various components. Hands, feet, heads, and torsos all go to different places to be studied separately.
I'm an organ donor. After my pathetic body has breathed it's last, I really don't care what happens next. I ain't there to worry about it. If my remains have some value to some sort of research, great. Otherwise, it goes in the incinerator, yielding nothing positive at all.
I heard about the forensic testing site. It's really quite cool if you can get over the gruesome factor. They can usually gauge when a corpse met its demise by the type of bugs feasting on it.
I would guess that the bodies are stiff and stinky . Do they do something to them to keep them flexible ?Anti -freeze ?
Considering how I've chosen to spend my life, I think it would be a fitting usage of my remains. One final drive. I wonder if I can specify it in my will . . .
I thought this was gonna be about a weird band from canada eh?!
MMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMMMMMM
i think they should test with live murderers and rapists to get the most accurate results.
Dunno how flexible they'd be. Thinking back on biology class in high school, the cats we dissected were kind of rubbery, yet still kind of stiff. Guess anything will bend if you force it.
Damn, I need an avatar. I look like a troll.
Yeah, the cadavers are kinda stiff and hard-rubbery. They are pumped full of formalyn and stored in formalyn tanks. Cutting into one/cutting one up is not the same as cutting on a live person. They don’t bend near as well either. Live people are much softer and more flexible. Live people, of course, also bleed unless you totally screw it up.
patgizz wrote: i think they should test with live murderers and rapists to get the most accurate results.
+1
I've known about this for years and think it's fine. Heck, seems the best, most reliable way to tell if a leg will break in a given accident. I'd have no problem at all if I were used in this way. It's not like the cadavers are even identifiable. In most of those shots most folks would be hard-pressed to tell that they weren't crash test dummies.
But then again, if NBC says it's not needed......
And on a more gruesome note, if they are fairly stiff but still flexible, maybe that's even better. In an accident you tense your muscles.......
For medical research you can get so called "fresh" cadavers that have not been treated with any chemicals and have been refrigerated and never frozen. I kid you not, the wording is the same as the packaging on fancy meat.
The rigor mortis also goes away after 3 days so the bodies aren't stiff anymore... Don't ask me how I know. (actually before anybody thinks I'm a serial killer I should say that I design surgical tools)
Before they used cadavers, they were using live chimps. I'd really be upset by that.
DrBoost wrote: I've known about this for years and think it's fine. Heck, seems the best, most reliable way to tell if a leg will break in a given accident. I'd have no problem at all if I were used in this way. It's not like the cadavers are even identifiable. In most of those shots most folks would be hard-pressed to tell that they weren't crash test dummies. But then again, if NBC says it's not needed...... And on a more gruesome note, if they are fairly stiff but still flexible, maybe that's even better. In an accident you tense your muscles.......
I'd heard about it too. Some sort of equally sensational hack story about Mercedes in the 80s-90s IIRC.
I'd much rather end up doing something good for humanity, rather than lying in a box taking up space that could be used to grow food or build housing. I had originally planned to be cremated, but if there's a place to sign up for this specific purpose, I think I'd do it. Pay it forward, baby. This research isn't just to protect the mindless cellphone users in traffic..some of the people it will save will be from our own community of enthusiasts.
Absolutely. Twist my deformed fingers into a shocker, load me into a minivan and hurdle me to a wall. If I can be of of 100 that make vehcile just a bit better, please, lemme do it.
Mental wrote: Absolutely. Twist my deformed fingers into a shocker, load me into a minivan and hurdle me to a wall. If I can be of of 100 that make vehcile just a bit better, please, lemme do it.
Although I'd rather go in the pre-production 2032 Nissan 540z...at least my friends could joke that I finally got the chance to drive something before anyone else! 
Salanis wrote: Yeah. I'd heard about this. If you want to find out about all the interesting ways that corpses are use, you need to read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Just picked it up from the library today. Can't seem to put it down. Thank god there are no pics though...
Well, if NBC said they don't need to do that, then why are we? We should just stick them in the ground and be done with it. No cremation, either. Releases the CO2, you know.
The left also says we shouldn't experiment on animals in medical school. I'm waiting for them to volunteer their children instead for intubation lab, in order to save those completely anesthetized kitties that are going to be executed anyway. Oh, don't forget PETA kills the animals they "rescue." Yeah, bring on their young'ens instead for intubation lab. Leftist babies should be just as good as cats or cadavers, after all.
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