Bodyworlds is currently exhibiting at the Franklin Institue in Philly.
I know someone who just went up to see it and said it was prettty awesome.
Basically, some dude found a way to inject “plastic” into dead people and the exhibit is people skinned with their organs/muscles/nerves/etc all in different states of display.
Apparently it’s in Philly, Houston and Denver currently.
Anyone been? Worth the trip?
We have a version of it here in Florida. Same premise, different company. It is phenomenal!
It’s not in the slightest bit morbid or oogy, and in fact some of the sections such as the respiratory system are beautiful to look at.
The subjects in the show I saw were mostly smokers so looking at those black lungs really made me think about my habit.
The only things that squicked me a little was the gall bladder that was full of stones (bleccccccch) and the tumor that had an eye, teeth and hair coming out of it. No telling if Body Wars will have those same things, but I’m sure there will be plenty of diseased organs to go around.
I would highly recommend it to anyone and would like to see people take their children(those old enough to understand it, that is).
They talked about this on Science Friday.
I’m a little disturbed by the fact that most of these bodies were folks who didn’t have wills and had no next-of-kin to claim the body. This is apparently typical of bodies used in medical research but, I dunno, I think that if a person’s corpse is going to be put on public display in cunning poses, they ought to have had some kind of a say in the matter.
They say that they’re working on getting donated bodies for the next set that is prepared for display.
I saw the initial Body Worlds 3 display in Houston last month. Some people were fascinated by it. I didn’t find it all that stimulating. I’ve seen most of this stuff in books and magazines. The one cool part was when a type of dye is injected into the circulatory sysytem of a body part (mostly hands and feet). It’s amazing to see all the arteries, veins and capillaries.
I saw Bodyworlds2 in Los Angeles last year, and I would enthusiastically recommend it, with the caveat that it’s not for everyone.
If you can deal with the sight of vivisected human bodies in various states of disassembly up close, then you’ll be ok. If not, don’t go.
For me the experience was nothing short of revelatory. The exhibits were educational, artistically impressive, and uniformly fascinating. The crowd experience was just as interesting. There were no glass cases or shields around most of the full-body examples. They’re just free-standing exhibits that you could easily touch if you decided to be rude and disobey the groundrules of the exhibit. Yet nobody was. And no one was snickering at the genitalia, either. Just wonderment and serious pondering all around the room - all ages, too.
A great experience.
I saw some version of this German mad scientist’s plasticized lunacy in London about 3 or 4 years ago. You should really go. It’s flabbergasting. Highlights were a pregnant woman (unreal) and the guy riding a horse, holding his own skin. Just phenomenally weird and interesting.