AI Estimates Time Since Death via Microbes

Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology developed mHolmes, an AI trained on skin microbiome samples from 34 human cadavers collected daily for 21 days. Published Monday in Nature Communications, it estimates postmortem intervals with average error under two days, beating the typical three-day error. It could aid forensic investigations of dismembered or decomposed remains, though real-world trials and court protocols are still needed.