Happening after death, or referring to an examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death.
From Latin 'post' (after) and 'mortem' (death), literally 'after death.' The term became standardized in medical and legal contexts during the Renaissance when systematic autopsies began in universities.
Medical examiners can determine when someone died by measuring body temperature and something called 'rigor mortis'—the stiffening of muscles that happens in a predictable pattern after death, which helped create modern forensic science!
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