© 2025 New Hampshire Public Radio

Persons with disabilities who need assistance accessing NHPR's FCC public files, please contact us at publicfile@nhpr.org.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Win big during NHPR's Summer Raffle! Purchase your tickets today!

A Big Dig For Pigs To Help Solve Crimes

Western Oregon University Students search for buried pig bones as part of a rare opportunity to get experience in the field.
(Jes Burns/OPB/EarthFix)
Western Oregon University Students search for buried pig bones as part of a rare opportunity to get experience in the field. (Jes Burns/OPB/EarthFix)

If you were driving along logging roads in the coastal mountains of Oregon this spring, you might have come across a strange sight: eight college students with shovels digging large, perfectly rectangular holes in the forest. Those are the next generation of forensic anthropologists, taking advantage of a rare opportunity to get their hands in the dirt.

Jes Burns from Here & Now contributor Oregon Public Broadcasting and EarthFix, a public media collaborative in the Northwest, has the story.

Read Jes Burns’ full article, Microbes (And Pigs) Could Provide Clues For Forensic Scientists.

Reporter

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.