You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

It's all Hallows Eve, my dear Gouli's, and let's get us thinking about grave yards

and the undead and the places where ghosts linger.

You know, I have been thinking about what I want to do when I die.

Turns out journalist Abby Allhizer has been thinking about it too.

I thought vaguely that donating my body to science might be something that I would want to do.

But I realized that vaguely was doing a lot of work there, right?

Like, I didn't know the first thing about what to do, what that actually meant, and kind

of what people were going to learn from it.

Abby's not talking about Dr. Frankenstein-style science here, but medical schools, anatomy labs,

and so-called body farms.

So they decided to explore this scientific realm of the dead for an article in the MIT

Technology Review.

Today on the show, what it really means to donate your body to science, and how it helps

everyone from surgeons to detectives to archaeologists do their jobs.

And while we should give a warning that this episode might not be for the squeamish,

you might be surprised.

Abby says these places are not morbid, they're actually quite peaceful.

I'm Erin Scott, and you're listening to Shortwave, the Daily Science Podcast from NPR.

We started our conversation by asking Abby Allhizer to tell us about their visit to Western

Carolina University's Forensic Aestiology Research Station, known simply as the Forest.

They headed there with the director Nicholas Pasalakwa, and the forensic anthropologist

...