Biological Science in Dr. William Research Paper

Often, bones have different shapes and/or sizes depending on whether they belonged to a male or female individual, and age also plays an important factor in the way bones look (Maples, 142). Whereas doctors usually specialize in a certain branch of medicine, as in pediatrics or gerontology, forensic anthropologists must retain a broad range of knowledge because they might be called in to identify bones or other remains from any individual of any age or pathology. If they only knew a small portion of the type of details that could aid them in such identification, that particular forensic anthropologist's usefulness would be severely limited. Throughout his book, Dr. Maples demonstrates quite clearly how vital it is that observation, research, and learning continue throughout one's career as a forensic anthropologist, especially in the area of biology. As medical and biological knowledge grows, the forensic anthropologist must stay up-to-date or run the risk of either not being able to identify a victim or the method of their demise, or even worse coming up with false explanation of what happened to whom and when.

Dead Men Do Tell Tales is not strictly a book about science, but without science it would have been impossible to write this book or indeed to live the life that its author did. Biology is vitally important in understanding how life works, and this works shows how vital it is to explaining how certain people have died, as well. It might be unusual application, but it is by no means less valid for that.

Works Cited

Maples, William R. Dead Men Do Tell…