Visit to Minnesota Science Museum and BodyWorlds Exhibit
Originally published on: 7/6/2006 4:38:01 AM
The bodies themselves are the focus with smaller organ-based displays in between. The body displays are in pretty much all cases, partially cut apart and arranged to show the complexity and beauty of a particular system. For instance, "The Thinker", is a chess player sitting at a table. From the back, they've cut the "top' of the spine and skull open and you can see the nervous system from the brain down the spinal cord and out as the nerves get smaller. Another has a runner with muscles disconnected at one end and spread out to show the layers upon layers of muscles involved in moving us around.
The organ exhibits in most cases show healthy organs compared to various conditions: a healthy brain vs tumor vs stroke, etc. Also touring the room were several museum employees with additional items for display. It was from one of these that I got the opportunity to hold a plastinated human liver and examine it.
The exhibit and the experience were phenomenal. It took several hours to get through it, and was worth every penny and every minute. If it's in your city or coming to your city, you need to see it. This is the biology class your high school couldn't afford.
Do note that there are currently 3 different sets touring the North America, so your city may have a different set of exhibits when the show comes to town. There are also several copycat exhibits that, instead of using expressly donated bodies are using unclaimed bodies or won't even say where they got them from. For me, the impact of the exhibit is that the bodies on display are there because their original owners specifically wanted them to be there.
Given my intent to donate my entire body to science when I die, I feel that this is important. A lot of the time, scientific activities that use human bodies run into ethical objections from the community. Yet, many of the donors feel like me. I want my body used for whatever will make the best contribution to scientific knowledge. Period.
Also, since the tickets include access to the rest of the museum as well, we went through the rest before seeing BodyWorlds. It had been a while since I'd done that and was especially intrigued by the exhibit in the attached photo, which is a sphere onto which is projected moving images of planets and moons and is used to show geologic motion and features. We sat, enthralled by the floating glowing ball that changed from Earth to the moon to Mars and worked its way through the solar system. According to the display, NOAA is responsible for coming up with the system and I'm glad they did. It, compared with a classroom globe is kind of like the difference between a star map and a planetarium. There's something entrancing about seeing it as a big ball hanging in space in front of you that just has a far bigger impact.
Also worth seeing is the outdoor native prairie maze, which is a good peek into what the native species of plants look like together without the transplants. And, you have to step on the scale and see how much blood your body contains. For the record, I nearly maxxed the thing out.
At any rate, it's good to see that the Science Museum is still keeping it real and putting good exhibits out. If you're ever in the Twin Cities, you should put it on your list.
Comments
commented on 7/6/2006 Incidentally, the rest of my photos from the museum (none of BodyWorlds due to photo restrictions), hit Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwynia/sets/72157594188337237/
commented on 7/29/2006 This exhibit does not treat the bodies with the dignity and respect we all deserve. It is not about science, but about entertainment and money. Visit my site for more information
commented on 7/29/2006 What would constitute "dignity and respect", Aaron? The ultimate in dignity and respect is to honor the wishes of the person who inhabits a body. I assume that you consider a modern burial in a casket to be more respectful than this, right? How is rotting in a wooden box more respectful?
commented on 7/29/2006 Incidentally, there's little that's *more* about money than the modern funeral industry. It takes advantage of people who are grieving to convince them to pay huge amounts of money for caskets and extra services in the name of respect.
On your site, you object to the plastination and other modifications of tissues for preservation. Do you also object to modern embalming process that dramatically alters human tissues to delay normal decomposition?
I say "delay" deliberately as you might want to read up on "Exploding Casket Syndrome", where the casket acts as a pressure cooker as the body is liquified and gas pressures build up and the sealed casket literally explodes. Even if it doesn't explode, the modern sealed casket sets up an ideal environment for the liquification of the body.
What treatment of the remains do you deem respectful?
commented on 7/29/2006 Thanks for an opportunity to clarify my position.
I will try to discuss each point you bring up. First, it is not my aim to defend or criticize the funeral industry. The exhibit can stand or fall on its own merits.
I did not, in fact, object to the procedure used in the exhibit. I do not think it is a scientific breakthrough, and I doubt it's contribution to the advancement of science.
I note that you intend to donate your body to science. I suggest you not donate to this exhibitor. The link to science is rather tenous, and in fact you would be donating it to show business.
It may seem respectful and dignified to obey someone's wishes if they have donated their bodies, but it is not. If someone requests that you do something that is wrong, it is still wrong, and following that request would be wrong. Just because someone tells you to do something does not mean you have to do it.
Now, as to what do I think is disrespectful, the bodies of the deceased are a mere shell that when alive held a human including all that makes us human, both our bodies and our spirits. On many levels the public display is wrong. When we look at the bodys, we focus on them, instead of remembering the person as a living being with a spirit. In treating the bodies as mere objects, and this is what the exhibit does, we virtually deny humanity to the people that the bodies formerly were. The exhibit tends to promote the idea that we are mechanical beings, and denies us a soul. It is unconscionable to exploit the remains for profit-the exhibit has raked in around $40 million. Finally, it would have been possible to educate the public with out the use of real bodies-they are just used to attract attention. By the way, the bodies are so plasticized that they are barely real-life is much messier, and these exhibits are very unreal.
Much of the praise for the exhibit seems to make it out to be the greatest thing people have ever seen- their fervor seems to be almost religious. I merely ask that people sit back and think. The exhibit is full of a lot of propaganda about itself, and tries very hard to convince one that it is the cat's meow. It tries much too hard...
commented on 6/25/2008 “Bodies†is a look inside the human body via 20 human cadavers, stripped of skin and preserved by a process called plastination. The exhibit also includes 250 body parts, healthy and otherwise, preserved by the same process. All specimens were obtained from China’s Dalian Medical University Plastination Laboratories.
The controversy, given China’s record on human rights, has been over the origin of the bodies. Premier Exhibitions, the firm that mounted the exhibit, says the cadavers are unclaimed or unidentified Chinese citizens who died of natural causes but also acknowledges it is showing them without consent of the deceased.
Critics counter that the bodies may be those of executed political prisoners and maybe mental patients.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/ENT/80619009/1025/LIFE
commented on 6/26/2008 Dave, please note that "Bodies" is a different exhibit than "BodyWorlds" and is run by a different group. All of the bodies in BodyWorlds are verified to have been donated by those same people prior to their deaths. "Bodies" is a ripoff exhibit that showed up as a result of the popularity of BodyWorlds.