Bodies

We saw the Gunther Von Hagen BodyWorlds exhibit at Science World today. It was neat to see the plastinated, posed bodies that you've probably seen pictures of. Though I found myself involuntarily touching my face while viewing some as certain parts - male reproductive organs, intestines - got me a bit queasy.

Some of the poses were quite artistic, not just in the posing, but in the way the inner parts were exposed. As they say, there are many ways to skin a cat. One man had rectangular sections cut out and slightly displaced, like a chest of drawers. Another's limbs and torso had alternating rings of skin and pared-back flesh.

But even more valuable to me were smaller displays. Some were things I'd never seen before, like one's diaphragm, and another's nasal cavity, things I could only imagine previously. There were also healthy and diseased organs and cross-sections, showing the effects of smoking and obesity among others.

I was really impressed viewing the circular systems of a lamb, a rooster, and a human head. I wondered at how you'd get just the blood vessels to keep their position, but realised that if you can plastinate an entire body, doing it for just blood vessels wouldn't be much different. I was also impressed with the colouring of the tissues overall - normally when one sees real tissues in a museum, it's just greyish.

After the exhibit, at lunchtime: "So, who'd like to get some ribs?"