A Morbid Curiosity

How lifeless bodies become life-saving tools.

Death is precious in these artistic mini worlds.

They were reclining beauties with ecstatic expressions – and lift-out intestines. Enter the necrophiliac world of 18th-century anatomical models

Cremation is booming in the US. In 1958, only 28 people were turned to ash. Today, more than 40 percent of Americans are cremated after they pass. We spoke to a man who's making a living off of this uptick. This crematory operator hails from California, a state where a surprising 58 percent of the deceased are cremated annually. He's in his mid-30s and is still learning his craft. He requested that we maintain his anonymity due to the concerns of his employer. He had a lot say about how and why he fell into the business of burning the dead. —Rick Paulas

For early Americans, presidential locks were popular souvenirs.

From 2006 to 2015, British photographer Murray Ballard investigated cryogenics, the act of freezing a body in the hope that one day it will be revived. Recently, Murray's endeavours – which took him around the UK, US and Russia – were published as a book, The Prospect of Immortality, by GOST (you can pick up a signed copy here).

Researchers look for tomb of William the Conqueror’s fourth son, whose remains are believed to have been buried in local abbey

"Yes, death. Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace." –Oscar Wilde