Show Notes
In June 2023 over a hundred people got a letter from Harvard Medical School, what it said changed their lives forever. Head Number 7 tells a story about an FBI investigation, an underground network, and human remains being sold on social media. Join geneticist and ancient DNA specialist Dr Turi King as she investigates the buying and selling of body parts, finds out what it really means to donate your body to science and asks who really owns our bodies once we're gone?
Listen to episodes of Head Number 7 exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial today by visiting wondery.com/links/head-number-seven Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Head Number 7
The families want justice, but is the law on their side? They fight a class action against the university, while preparations for Cedric’s trial are underway - but will it ever happen? We speak to the lawyer who defended one of the most infamous body broker scandals in history
Are the bodies allegedly sold from the Harvard morgue priceless or worthless? Turi learns it’s an argument that’s key to the case. And finds out the surprising ways a donated body can help science and technology, from football helmets to ejector seats.
Turi looks at the complicated history of universities and human remains - from grave robbing to buying bones with your books. And learn about the broadcasting legend who ended up mixed up in a plot involving the mafia and the UK’s National Health Service. Listen to episodes of Head Number 7 exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial today by visiting https://wondery.com/links/head-number-7/
What rights do you have over your own corpse? If you donate your body to science what will actually become of it? As the families of the victims mobilise they learn about the legal grey areas that exist around the rights of a corpse. Listen to episodes of Head Number 7 exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial today by visiting https://wondery.com/links/head-number-7/
Harvard writes a letter to the family members of those allegedly sold from their mortuary and the story hits the news. Who were the people behind the bodies donated to Harvard Medical School? The families take action.