Has anyone seen the Body Worlds exhibit in a local science museum? If you haven't it an exhibit of donated real human and animal bodies that have been plastinated (a chemical process that preserves the organism) to be viewed. Of course the skin is removed to show what is underneath and to protect the donater's identity. I went to see it in Boston, MA once. It can be neat for medical geeks like me but gross and controversial to others. The exhibit also shows individual organs and body systems. I will try not to describe too much in case it grosses people out, but I think this exhibit is an eye opening experience. Numerous of the organs have diseases, for example a smoker's lung. A healthy lung was displayed next to it. It could be seen which was which, because the smoker's lungs were filled with tar and were black. It also showed a liver damaged by alcohol. There was a majoyr difference between the healthy liver and the alcoholic infected liver. Not only did this exhibit show healthy bodies I was glad it showed sick bodies. Smoking and Drinking to the excess is unhealthy and for those who do I would recommend they see this exhibit and it may change your habit. It will be moving to another area in January. I'm not sure where yet, but please comment about this if you seen it or heard about it or interested.
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I too saw it in Boston... There are 3 Bodyworld exhibits touring, Bodyworld 1, 2 and 3. If anyone wants to check it out, go to: http://www.bodyworlds.com/index.html . Even for non-medical geeks, it can be amazing. It is so awe inspiring to actully view upclose The inside of the human body. Before now, very few people, other than medical professionals have had that privledge. I am a medical professional and I brought friends that were in town. One was an accountant and his wife a society wife, and they found the exibit more amazing than me, maybe because I've been through gross human anatomy.
I can't wait until they can use plastination instead of formaldehyde. It'll make med student smell less. If only I had that opportunity. It is so worth seeing.
It is in Boston, St Paul and Vancouver right now. Then it is going to Dallas, Chicago and Pheonix.
Wow I didn't think a medical professional would reply to this but I greatly appreciate your helpful information. There is also a DVD and book of this exhibit if you are unable to go. The cost is a little expensive but may be worth it if you are interested in this type of stuff.
Then again, for me, my favorite science class was the one where they brought in a human brain for us to look at/touch...that kind of stuff is so cool...
Plus, there's a huge difference seeing a picture of the healthy lung and smoker lung or healthy liver and alcoholic liver, and actually seeing it in person two or three feet away from you. That could make a big impact on somebody going through there either to help them quit an addiction or to never start it in the first place...
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"Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Live one day at a time, emphasizing ethics rather than rules."
-Wayne Dyer
Thank you for noticing that I talked about the damages that smoking or drinking can do. Not only did I want to discuss this exhibit but also what one can learn from it. By the way if you come back how did you become a "featured blogger"? You are famous on this website! It seems like the list never changes.
Honestly, I don't know. I just go on the site and blog about things I'm interested in and have opinions or questions about, and check out other peoples blogs and just get involved in different blog-ersations (yes, I just made that word up)...and then one day I logged on and my picture was there. I guess the site managers just liked what I had to say...
...never thought of myself as "famous" on the website...
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"Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Live one day at a time, emphasizing ethics rather than rules."
-Wayne Dyer
Lol, now you can have your "15 minutes of fame" but it seems more like "a year". I like your word invention "blog-ersations", is it copyrighted? I made up "post itz" to mean other people's posts on my blog but that might be copyrighted so I didn't make it up, I borrowed it. :)
Here is the statement given by progresive U about what makes a featured blogger, taken directly off the site, "Featured Bloggers are ProU bloggers whose posts have caught the attention of our editors on a regular basis. You'll find a wide range of styles and viewpoints here, but there is sure to be someone you can identify with (and maybe some who you can't stand, but you'd still like to debate with)."
I love the body world exhibits. I especially like the exploded action bodies. People playing soccer or riding horses with all their muscles pulled out. I love it. I guess it is more out of morbid fascination than medical geekry, but I can still appreciate it.
Don't forget kids, the liver is evil and must be punished!
Res ipsa loquitur.
memor mori, mahalo.
When you said.."Don't forget kids, the liver is evil and must be punished!"? Anyway I enjoyed the exhibit too depite the fact that I could "see dead people". I forgot to mention that most of the bodies are male so there won't be that much of a controversy. There are female bodies and a fetus/pregnancy section that is seperated from the body exhibit. This part is the most controversial part of the exhibit. Yet these models were created a long while ago and haved been passed around by museums to exhibit.
Are you really a doctor? and do you speak espanol?
I think it is kind of sad that the female bodies would create more controversey than the male bodies. This seems like some kind of horrible cultural underlying thing that makes women somehow things to be hidden away. That is probably a whole other blog. I can see some controversey with the fetuses though (feti?).
Anyway, no I am not actually a doctor. The name comes from a character in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," a three hundred pound Samoan lawyer with some nasty, dangerous habits. I speak a tiny little bit of spanish, but the quotes at the bottom of my post are latin (mahalo is Hawaiian).
The liver bit is a joke between my friends and I when we go drinking.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memor mori, mahalo.
It could also be to keep from being too offensive, not because women's bodies need to be hidden, but because socially the death of a woman or child (or a woman with child) is perceived to be much worse than the death of a man. It's not quite as strong a cultural perception as it used to be, but it's still evident when you turn on the news and see how male vs. female/child murders are talked about.
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"Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Live one day at a time, emphasizing ethics rather than rules."
-Wayne Dyer
The ratio of female vs male bodies might just be for the exhibit in Boston and there were atleast 2 women's bodies out in the main area. I think the fact that there were so many male bodies was a coincidence and perhaps in the other two BodyWord exhibits showing now are not that case at all. It may just happen to have been the ratio of the people who donated their bodies to this effort.
I saw something like that too in Boston, it was neat.
+mspin