TUT doctoral student studies use of diatoms in forensics
Merle Dorsh, a doctoral student at Tallinn University of Technology, investigates how diatoms can help determine if a person drowned alive or was dead before entering water, as well as other forensic applications.
Diatoms are microscopic single-celled algae found in almost all water bodies. Their silica shells persist even after biological material decomposes. Dorsh researches how these algae can be used to determine if water inhalation occurred before death—in that case, diatoms enter the lungs and then the bloodstream and other organs. Additionally, diatoms on clothing or textiles can indicate if a suspect was at a crime scene. However, this method is not an independent proof; it must be interpreted with other evidence. Currently, there are no unified international protocols, and many diatom species are difficult to distinguish under a microscope.
