See 'Death and Decay' up close at May Museum

It's death and decay at the May Museum.

Dr. Marin Pilloud will explain it all March 14 at the Wilbur D. May Museum at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, delving into the mysteries of the human body, and what happens to it after death from decomposition to bones.

The program is not for the faint of heart, museum officials say. The lecture contains images that may be disturbing for some and it's recommended for mature audiences.

It's also a subject of deep and lasting interest to many people.

"There's definitely the 'CSI' effect," Pilloud said, referring to the effect on forensic anthropology of the popular crime scene investigation television shows. "But it's also very personal. People can relate to the body and the skeleton and see what's happening."

Pilloud's program will use real human skeletons to explain what stories bones can tell about life and death and what facts they give up to investigators and researchers.

"The first part is what happens after death — decomposition and what it looks like and how it is relevant to our study of forensic anthropology," said Pilloud, an assistant professor of biological anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno.

She joined UNR after working as a forensic anthropologist for the U.S. Department of Defense at the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. She has overseen forensic recoveries in Southeast Asia, and worked on archaeological projects in California and Turkey.

"I hope people get an appreciation for skeletal variation, the science and what the study can bring to the medical and legal realm," she said.

Bones are amazing, Pilloud said. The skeleton is reflective of a person's life and death.

Dental records can help put a name to a body, "but if an identity is completely unknown, forensic anthropology can narrow down the identification by sex, age, and stature and you can start to hone in on that search," Pilloud said.

"The shape and size of the teeth can tell you about population background," she said. "The shape of the sutures on the cranium can tell age and some sort of population history, some of your genetic background."

Pilloud, who came to UNR last summer, said people seem surprised at the variations in the human skeleton and how much those bones can teach us.

"The obvious thing is height," she said. "The length of the long bones corresponds to stature, to height."

"CSI" programs, especially the television show "Bones" have helped people understand something about forensic anthropology, Pilloud said.

"It's not all correct," she said of information the programs present. "But (we) appreciate the exposure."

Interest in the subject has always been out there, Pilloud said, but now more people see it as a career path.

Age, height, sex and clues to ancestry can all be found in human remains and can provide evidence to help solve crimes, said Samantha Szesciorka, assistant curator at the Wilbur D. May Museum.

Currently, the museum is showing an exhibition called "Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body!" It focuses on the biology and functions of the human body through anamatronics, games and interactive elements.

"Death & Decay" seems a natural tie-in to the all-ages "Grossology" but on a more graphic and adult scale.

"I love doing adult programming," Szesciorka said. "And this is geared toward adults. It will be graphic.

"Her specialty is reading human remains, making IDs, and determining cause of death," Szesciorka said of Pilloud. "It's pretty amazing to the trained eye what remains can tell. People just love the idea of it."

"Death and Decay: The Art of Forensic Science" are $5.

When: 4:30-6 p.m. March 14

Where: The Wilbur D. May Museum is in Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, 1595 N. Sierra St.

Cost: $5

Details: 775-785-5961 or www.maycenter.com