For the first time this year, cremation has surpassed traditional burial as the most popular after-death option.
According to data from the National Funeral Directors Association, 48.5% of people are choosing cremation while only 45.6% opt for burials.
But as those two figures show, cremation and burials still leave out nearly 6% of the dying population. So where do those people go?
Here are some of the innovative ways people are choosing to spend eternity.
Resomation.
Instead of using open flames to incinerate the body, resomation relies on heated water and potassium hydroxide. The combination liquefies the body, leaving just the person's bones behind.
In the US, resomation is still catching on. Fewer than 10 states have funeral homes where resomation is an option.
It's more popular in the UK, where in 2008 the Cremation Society amended their 134-year-old charter to classify resomation as a superior option to burial.
Mummification.
Contemporary mummification looks pretty similar to how the ancient Egyptians did it.
Corky Ra, founder of the mummification service Summum, told CBS News in 2005 that roughly 1,400 people had signed up for their eventual whole-body wrapping. The service costs $63,000, Ra said.
The idea is that by preserving the body for hundreds if not thousands of years, people can retain their DNA in case technology one day lets them rejoin the living.
Ra could become one of the lucky ones: After his death in 2008, Ra was mummified.
Body donations.
Provided you don't have any communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS or syphilis and don't weigh too much, donating your body to science is a legitimate option after death.
If after registering you still qualify by the time you're dead, coroners at body donation companies like Science Care and BioGift Anatomical will disperse the body to various medical research programs in their area.
One university might get your brain and spine, another might get your kidneys, liver, and spleen. A third might get your skin.
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