Bodies

Today we went to an exhibit at the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry called Bodies. It is a facinating look at real human bodies. These people (they were all Chinese) died then the soft coverings of fat and tissue were removed then muscles, nerves, etc. were replaced with a polymer substance. You end up with a skeleton with, for example, the muscles shown. Each muscle of the leg is seen, where it attaches to the bone, where it attaches to the next bone.

On another body they had nerve fibers illustrated, on another the blood vessels. I said the fat and tissue were removed but that isn't strictly correct. They left skin where it helped illustrate something or make the display more human. For example, the head might have the skin on the left side then the nerves exposed on the left. Most of the bodies were male and the penis and the testicles were intact; it gave the teenagers who were visiting something to titter over. There were a few female bodies including one who had had breast cancer that was untreated. Yuck! I never knew what that would look like; now I know I don't like it. It was rather like a mole only it covered an area 8 inches by 12 inches and was 2 or 3 inches deep. Nasty!

Lungs were displayed, livers, the stomach, pretty much everything you can imagine. In some cases both normal and diseased organs were shown. Smoker's lungs, diseased livers, and gallstones were just some of the fun stuff. It was a very good, interesting and instructive show. Highly recommended if it comes to your area. Wish I could post a sample but I'm not that good a blogger! Email me if you'd like to see the advertising poster or check the museum's web site http://www.mosi.org/

Have a good one!