Monday, February 20, 2006

Body Worlds 2

On Sunday, my friends and I visited Gunther von Hagens' BODY WORLDS 2: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies at Ontario Science Centre. There were a lot of people there. All tickets were sold.

The exhibition features real human specimens including entire bodies, individual organs, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and body slices. All bodies are arranged in different sports positions i.e.kicking soccer, fencing, figure skating, sitting, gymnastics, etc. Embryos, fetuses and a pregnant woman who died with her fetus in her womb are also on display.

The bodies on display are preserved using a method called plastination. By removing water and fats from the tissue and replacing these with polymers, the plastination process deprives bacteria of what they need to survive. Bodily fluids cannot, however, be replaced directly with polymers, because the two are chemically incompatible. Gunther von Hagens found a way around this problem: In the initial fluid-exchange step, water in the tissues (which comprises approximately 70% of the human body) and fatty tissues are replaced with acetone, a solvent that readily evaporates. In the second step, the acetone is replaced with a polymer solution.

The original price of Body Worlds 2 is $25, but we got the tickets at discounts ($17).

Personally, I don't think this exhibition worth $17. I am not a doctor and biology is not one of my favourite subjects, so I guess I cannot fully appreciate the work done to those human specimens. I understand that the whole purpose of this exhibition is to teach people more about the human body. However, I think most people are like me... going to this exhibition for fun... not for a biology lesson. It would be better if special lightings and musics are added to make the exhibits more artistics.

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