Dead bodies can continue to move on their own for years after their owners have passed on, a shocking new study has found.

一项令人震惊的新研究发现，人去世后，尸体还可以继续自行移动多年。

A researcher studying how bodies decompose in the Australian climate pointed a time-lapse camera at a donor's body in the bush outside of Sydney and left it for 17 months.

一位研究澳大利亚气候下尸体如何分解的研究人员，在悉尼郊外的灌木丛中用延时相机对准捐赠者的尸体，一放就是17个月。

"What we found was that the arms were significantly moving, so that arms that started off down beside the body ended up out to the side of the body," Alyson Wilson, a medical science undergraduate at CQUniversity, told AFP.

cquniversity的医学本科生alyson wilson告诉记者：“我们发现手臂明显在移动，所以从身体旁边开始的手臂最终会伸向身体的另一侧。”

"We think the movements relate to the process of decomposition, as the body mummifies and the ligaments dry out."

“我们认为这些运动与分解过程有关，因为尸体会木乃伊化，韧带也会变干。”

There are about 70 corpses being examined at the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research's (AFTER) 'body farm'. Researchers are looking at how bodies decompose in the southeast Australian climate.

澳大利亚taphonomic实验研究中心(在“尸体农场”之后)正在检查大约70具尸体。研究人员正在研究澳大利亚东南部气候下人体是如何分解的。

AFTER researchers in action. Photo credit: AFTER

Study supervisor Xanthe Mallett of the University of Newcastle said it showed crime scene investigators can't always assume that where they find a body, and the position it's in, is the same as at the moment of death.

纽卡斯尔大学(university of newcastle)的研究主管马莱特(xancemallett)说，这表明犯罪现场调查人员，不能总是假设他们发现尸体的地点和位置与死亡时相同。