Traditional burial and cremation aren’t the only two ways of putting the dead to rest these days. Thought I’d share the stuff I recently watched in a very interesting documentary by National Geographic called “Science of Death”. People are also opting for one of the following procedures:
**Memorial Diamonds: **
LifeGem is a company that offers to make diamonds from the carbon in a lock of hair or the cremated ashes of your loved one as a memorial to their unique life. They have a full line of cremation jewelry, rings, and pendants in many different colours. A 0.20 carat diamond will cost you approximately $4,000.
**Plastination: **
An alternative to the traditional embalming procedure is a new technique called plastination. This technique of preserving dead bodies was invented by a German anatomist, Gunther Von Hagens. In this procedure, the skin layer is removed, the body is dehydrated to remove all water and submerged in a bath of acetone to dissolve all fats. It is then covered with see-through plastic to yield something like this:
This technique can also be utilised in health education. For example, see below two preserved human lungs… one belongs to a smoker, the other belongs to a non smoker.
**Eternal Reefs: **
These are made from cast concrete that include the cremated ashes of the dead body. These memorial reefs are then submerged in natural marine environments to help grow coral reefs and habitats for fish and other forms of sea life. This is what a memorial reef “pearl” looks like underwater:
**Promession - an environment friendly method of burial: **
This is a method, invented by a Swedish biologist, of disposing of the dead body by means of freeze drying. The deceased is placed in a casket and freeze dried in a bath of liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 degrees Celsius. This causes the casket and the body to become extremely brittle. When shaken, they reduce to powder. The body’s water is then evaporated and metals are separated out using powerful magnets. The remains are buried in a biodegradable casket. Within 6-12 months, it becomes compost and nourishes a plant/tree planted as a memorial.
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