as was the body in the shade or sunlight; was there water involved; or even the different stages associated with death and dying which can help paint part of the forensic picture." Each stage of death is analyzed independently at the Body Farms to get a better understanding of the decomposition process on the body. Medical practitioners determine which insects or what climate cause human bodies to decompose the quickest, or in which manner they decompose according to differences in temperature or type of insect. The information regarding decomposed bodies is found to be important to the scientific community even if that information is found not necessarily in the bodies themselves, but the soil and plant life surrounding the bodies. Bryant, “has found grave importance in the soil surrounding the decomposing bodies at the Body Farms. Pointing out that how the breakdown and leaching of human proteins and bacteria out into the soil can help pinpoint time of death and questions regarding the climate at the scene of death.” Products of the decomposed body eventually seep into the soil leaving behind traces of the body which helps researchers determine the length in time that a body has been in that particular area. In popular culture The concept of a body farm in general, as well as the existing institutions in particular, have been used in several crime-related works of popular culture. Notable examples include: Patricia Cornwell's novel The Body Farm is based on the University of Tennessee facility, but not on actual events surrounding it. The character of Dr. Thomas Katz was based upon Dr. Bill Bass. In his book, Death's Acre, which has a foreword by Cornwell, Bass and co-author Jon Jefferson describe the experiment he undertook on her behalf. A similar experiment conducted by the fictional Dr. Katz solves the book's mystery. Authors Jon Jefferson and Bill Bass have published a number of fictional murder mystery novels based on the body farm at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville under the pseudonym Jefferson Bass. The lead character is based on Bill Bass. In the British television series Waking the Dead, forensic pathologist Dr. Eve Lockhart has her own body farm. She reappears in a spin-off series The Body Farm. In the US show Rizzoli & Isles, the chief medical examiner of Massachusetts, Dr. Maura Isles, has a giant African spur tortoise called 'Bass' after William M. (Bill) Bass.