According to many forensic experts and researchers, the establishment of a fifth body farm is invaluable to the continued study of human decomposition. "The nice thing about [the new Pennsylvania facility] is it's in a completely different geographic region," said Dr. Gerald Laporte, a Forensic Policy Program Manager and Physical Scientist at the National Institute of Justice at the Department of Justice. "This has a tremendous research benefit, because there's not a lot of research that looks at how bodies decompose under climatic conditions up in the Northeast."

The effect that precipitation, temperature and humidity have on a decomposing body are important factors for researchers at body farms to consider -- factors that are limited by the region in which research can be conducted. "It's so environment specific," said Dr. Richard L. Jantz, Professor Emeritus and Director of the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee. "In east Tennessee, it's not humid in the summer and it doesn't get that cold, but in the southwest, it's hot and dry all the time and things proceed differently."

Cold weather generally slows the rate of decomposition, while heat, direct sunlight, and high humidity all accelerate it. A buried body, exposed to fewer elements, will decompose more slowly than one on the surface, but acidic soil and high soil moisture can work to speed up the process. The California University of Pennsylvania body farm, to be located in the southwestern corner of the state in a humid continental climate, will be subject to hot, humid summers (with an occasional heatwave); cold, snowy winters; and regular precipitation throughout the year. These climatic conditions, distinct from those in Texas, North Carolina and Tennessee, will likely affect corpses in undocumented ways and provide ample opportunity for new research.

The cadavers on most body farms come from two sources: medical examiners -- "If nobody claims a body, you have to do something with it," Jantz said -- and pre-donors. The latter is the preferred method: the Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville currently has over 2,000 pre-donors on file who will bestow their corporeal remains to the facility after they die. "We get over 100 donated bodies each year from donations," Jantz said. "People donate themselves like they would to a medical school." It should be noted, though, that getting into medical school doesn't get much easier when you're dead. "If you donate your body to a medical school, it's used in anatomy training," Jantz said. "But they're very particular, you know. If you're obese, they won't take you, if you're too big they won't take you, if you've been autopsied they won't take you. But none of that matters to us."

As a body donor, there are some practical issues to consider. For one, how do you make good on your donation delivery? "It depends on where you die," Jantz said. "If you're local -- in Knoxville or the surrounding area -- and if the family chooses to honor your wish to donate, then the medical institution where you die will call us, and we'll go get the body and bring it to the facility." This door-to-door service can be used for in-state cadavers up to 100 miles away. If a pre-donor dies farther away than that, it becomes the responsibility of the family to ship the body to the facility. "If it's a long way, like the west coast, they're usually flown in, or they can also be brought to us by a carrier," Jantz explained.