Climate change and death investigation: Redefining experimental forensic science

One of the deadliest weather-related occurrences in the worldis heat, and as climate change continues, heat-related mortalitycould rise sharply. According to The Lancet Countdown onHealth and Climate Change’s 2020 report, an additional 475million heatwave incidents occurred worldwide in 2019,exposing vulnerable populations, which resulted in excessmortality and morbidity. The number of deaths from heatrelatedcauses among those over 65 has increased by 53.7%during the previous 20 years, with a total of 296,000 deathsin 2018. The burden of heat-related mortality linked to recentdecades of human-induced climate change was the subject ofanother multinational investigation. Human health has alreadybeen impacted by climate change and will continue to be sothrough direct, indirect, and diffuse pathways. Heat-relatedrisks may get worse or get better as a result of interactionsbetween climate change and other trends including urbanization,population growth and aging, and socioeconomic development.High uncertainty among heat-related mortality predictors (suchas human behaviour and adaptation) are frequently the causeof such large variations in heat mortality; in contrast, smallerestimations of adverse health effects are produced by slowerfuture population increase and greater adaptability.