In Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions, award-winning science journalist Richard Harris takes a harsh look at biomedical research and exposes ...

Take the ubiquitous C. elegans worm. Scientists observed rigor mortis in these worms for the first time, alongside its telltale “death fluorescence” visible under ultraviolet light.

Conflicting reports have appeared concerning the process of rigor mortis in germ-free animals. Harmon2 has observed that germ-free rats do not become rigid after death.