Flies, maggots and methamphetamine: how insects can reveal drugs and poisons at crime scenes

By Paola Magni, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science, Murdoch University

The oldest book of zoology was published on clay tablets more than 3,600 years ago, and reported the names of 396 types of wild animals known at the time. Ten of them were different kinds of fly.

Flies have lived alongside humans since the dawn of history, feeding on our bodily fluids and other organic waste such as meat and vegetable scraps. When an adult female blowfly finds some juicy decaying material – typically a carcass – she may lay hundreds of eggs or tiny maggots in it.

So flies use us,…

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