Body Worlds 3

A couple of Sunday nights ago a group of us went to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Vancouver Science Center. Oh my what a fantastic exhibit. I was totally enthalled by the whole thing. I could have spent more time there but after a few hours you kind of get on overload and you can't absorb anymore so the 2.5 hrs. that we had was pretty good length of time. So what is Body Worlds you might be asking? Well it is an exhibit of cadavours that have preserved by a method of plastinization so that they cellular structure is preseved but the liquid is replaced with a special kind of plastic. All of the bodies are devoid of shin and prepared in such a way to show different organ systems or the specific muscle groups that are used during different activities, etc. There were also lots of cases of seperate parts so you could see the healthy organs next to ones that had various disease, like black lung, liver diseae, alzheimers, etc. And we got to hold a kidney, a liver and a cross section of an arm that showed all the fat cells of an over weight person and how it compressed the rest of the internal structure of the arm. It was so awesome. I know it sounds like it would be gross but the reality was that they looked like plastic models in a way so it wasn't ichy like some people feared it would be. If you are curious to know more about the process check out the web site here. We bought the DVD of how they actually do the preservation but I hadn't had time to watch it yet. The whole thing was fascinating but I think personally I was struck by a few things: How they put in different artifical joints (they had a body that showed all the artificial joints), how much the centeral nervous system really did look like a bundle of wires/small cables all bundled together, the size of the uterus, the size of the ureters from the kidneys to the bladder, and the effect that disease have on organs. To see someones lungs with huge holes in them, a brain that has alzheimers that is really actually shrunken and and to see a kidney that had kidney disease that is probably 10x the normal size is really quite eye opening. Also the babies were interesting. To see an eight week old fetus that already has tiny, tiny fingers, toes and eyes just reminds me once again that each one of us truely is a miracle.

Was an experience like nothing else I have ever seen for sure.