Preface |
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vi | |
1 It Comes to Us All |
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1 | (12) |
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11 | (2) |
2 A Rich Bag of Goodies - The Human Body as a Source of Nutrients |
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13 | (29) |
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2.1 What Types of Tissues Are Present in My Body? |
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14 | (6) |
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2.1.1 Epithelial Tissue - Keeping It All Together |
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15 | (3) |
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2.1.2 Connective Tissue - Our Support System |
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18 | (1) |
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2.1.3 Muscle Tissue - Standing and Moving |
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18 | (2) |
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2.1.4 Nervous Tissue - "I've Got a Feeling" (Thanks to The Beatles) |
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20 | (1) |
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2.2 But What Are All These Tissues Made Up Of? |
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20 | (17) |
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2.2.1 Small Is Beautiful, But Big Is Also Very Important |
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24 | (1) |
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2.2.2 Structures of the Main Macromolecules in Humans |
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25 | (4) |
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2.2.3 Where Are Macromolecules Found in Human Tissues? |
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29 | (8) |
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2.3 How Available to Microbes and Insects Are the Nutrients Present in the Human Body? |
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37 | (1) |
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2.4 And then, Of Course, We Shouldn't Forget That Brown, Smelly Stuff |
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38 | (2) |
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40 | (2) |
3 Our Life-Long Microbial Companions - Who Are They and What Do They Get Up to While We're Alive? |
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42 | (49) |
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43 | (42) |
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3.1.1 What Is the Definition of a Microbe? |
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43 | (1) |
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3.1.2 So, How Are These Six Types of Microbes Different From Each Other? |
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43 | (1) |
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3.1.3 They're So Small, So They Must Be Very Simple Creatures? |
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44 | (1) |
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3.1.4 How Do We Identify the Various Types of Microbes? |
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45 | (6) |
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3.1.5 Meet My Best Friends - My Microbiota |
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51 | (1) |
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3.1.6 How Many Microbes Live on Me? |
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51 | (2) |
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3.1.7 Do All Parts of My Body Have the Same Microbes? |
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53 | (3) |
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3.1.8 Which Microbes Live in My Gut? |
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56 | (20) |
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3.1.9 Which Microbes Live on My Skin? |
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76 | (6) |
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3.1.10 Which Microbes Live in My Respiratory System? |
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82 | (2) |
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3.1.11 What About the Microbes That Live at Other Body Sites? |
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84 | (1) |
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3.2 How Do We Manage to Co-Exist With Our Microbiota? |
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85 | (3) |
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88 | (3) |
4 Not a Pretty Picture - Our Appearance After Death |
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91 | (26) |
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4.1 How Can We Find Out What Happens to a Body After Death? |
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92 | (2) |
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4.2 The Decomposition of a Human Corpse Follows a Predictable Pattern |
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94 | (4) |
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4.3 What Are the Various Stages Involved in Decomposition? |
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98 | (9) |
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4.3.1 The Fresh Stage - 0 to 3 Days After Death |
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98 | (2) |
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4.3.2 The Bloat Stage - 2 to 6 Days After Death |
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100 | (1) |
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4.3.3 The Stage of Active Decay - 5 to 11 Days After Death |
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101 | (1) |
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4.3.4 Advanced Decay (or Post-Decay) Stage - 10 to 25 Days After Death |
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102 | (1) |
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4.3.5 Skeletal Decay Stage. > 25 Days After Death |
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102 | (5) |
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4.4 The Smell of Death - "I think, I think, I smell a stink, it comes from y...o...u" |
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107 | (1) |
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4.5 Factors That Affect the Rate of Decomposition |
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108 | (3) |
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111 | (4) |
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115 | (2) |
5 The Great Betrayal - Our Own Cells and Our Symbionts Turn Against Us |
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117 | (50) |
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5.1 It All Starts With Autolysis - the Damage Is Self-Inflicted |
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118 | (4) |
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5.2 And Now the Microbes Can Take Over |
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122 | (2) |
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5.3 It All Comes Down to Ecology |
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124 | (2) |
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5.4 Ch...Ch....Ch....Changes (With Thanks to David Bowie) |
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126 | (2) |
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5.5 Mass Migration - A World (or, At Least, a Corpse) Without Borders |
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128 | (2) |
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5.6 Knock, Knock - Who's There? |
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130 | (33) |
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5.6.1 A General Overview - The Broad-Brush Approach |
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132 | (4) |
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5.6.2 What Happens to Specific Organs? |
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136 | (22) |
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5.6.3 Come on in, It's Now Open House - The Invasion of the Body-Eaters |
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158 | (5) |
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163 | (4) |
6 From the Micro to the Macro - Now the Big Guys Move In |
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167 | (41) |
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169 | (2) |
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6.2 What Goes on Above Ground - Who's First and Who's Last? |
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171 | (24) |
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173 | (5) |
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178 | (7) |
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6.2.3 The Active Decay Stage |
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185 | (3) |
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6.2.4 The Advanced Decay Stage |
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188 | (3) |
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6.2.5 The Skeletonisation Stage |
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191 | (3) |
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6.2.6 Wave Upon Wave of Insects - "Help, I'm Not Waving But Drowning" |
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194 | (1) |
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6.3 And Now for What's Going on Down Below |
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195 | (10) |
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196 | (4) |
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6.3.2 Now for the Late-Comers |
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200 | (1) |
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6.3.3 And Last, But Not Least |
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200 | (5) |
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205 | (3) |
7 And What About the Rest of the Big, Wide World? Corpse Decomposition and the Environment |
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208 | (32) |
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7.1 What Are the Ways in Which a Corpse Affects the Environment? |
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209 | (26) |
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7.1.1 Let's Start With the Sensual |
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211 | (1) |
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7.1.2 Now for the Chemical |
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212 | (6) |
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7.1.3 The Biological Impact |
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218 | (17) |
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235 | (2) |
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237 | (3) |
Appendix I. Glossary |
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240 | (6) |
Appendix II. Descriptions of Microbes Mentioned in the Book |
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246 | (12) |
Appendix III. Images of Corpses and Other Items That Some Readers May Consider to Be Unpleasant or Disturbing |
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258 | (8) |
Index |
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266 | |