Yesterday afternoon I went to see the exhibit down at Scienceworld.  http://www.scienceworld.bc.ca/bodyworlds/

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the exhibit.  Way back in highschool, I wanted a career in medicine, and the subject I had the most interest in was Biology, especially Biology 30 where is was all about human physiology, anatomy, etc.  This would be a chance to see the actual biological systems we only got to see in textbooks. 

The other factor is how we, as a culture, deal with death.  People die and are buried or cremated- the end.  The exhibit takes what is private, and makes it very, very public. 

On one hand, there’s a fascination with seeing ourselves in a totally physical context… and then there’s the viewing of someone’s remains, that culturally, we cover up. 

I think to view the exhibit, I had to detach myself a bit, and not think of them as people or corpses.  I don’t think I’m that squeamish- I remember a fieldtrip to the morgue where we got to view a film showing a real autopsy and I was able to have lunch afterwards. 

The exhibit.   

I would say it is grouped into 4 categories- anatomy and biological systems (organs, nerves, muscles, joints, circulation, reproduction, digestion, etc), diseases, development, and “human aesthetic”

I was floored by how well the exhibit showed the human anatomy.  The nervous system started with a human brain at the top, and like a complex root system extending down from the brain stem were all the nerves.  You could see the entire spinal cord as well as the nerves branching off to the limbs.  I didn’t think that the nerves would be so visible, in fact, it reminds me of the strings on a puppet that a puppeteer would use to control all motion.  You could see the nerves running all along the limbs and branching off every which way.  The Sciatic nerve was pretty visible.  It made me understand how easily a nerve can be “pinched.”  

I was wowed by the exhibits showing all the internal organs.  You read and see photos about them, but you don’t really understand their size and shape.  I was amazed at how small the kidneys and uterus is.  It gives me an idea of what surgeons see when they open a patient up and need to navigate through the maze of vessels, nerves, bones, organs, etc.  There was one exhibit showing a man standing up, and to his right was all his skin.  Just surreal.

The exhibit starts with bones and muscles, then proceeds to add in digestion, brain and nervous system, respiration/circulation, reproduction.  I was astonished at seeing how they used cross sections and other techniques to show the particular system.  You just have to see this for yourself.

Diseases.  Aneurysms, lung/liver cancer, blood clots, hip displaysia, arthritis, alzheimers… the exhibit does an incredible job describing what a healthy system looks like, and compares it to a diseased system.  With Alzheimers, you can see how the brain has “shrunk” for a lack of a better word.  They showed a lung of a smoker…. and had a “quit smoking” video right beside it.  Needless to say, it was a strong motivator.

One thing that caught my attention was “metasticized liver cancer”… which claimed my Grandmother.  It showed a healthy liver, and one that was full of tumors.  Since the liver has a high bloodflow, it is susceptible to secondary cancer that originated from other parts of the body. 

They had a cross section of an obese man- 300 lbs, which showed how hard the extra weight is on the organs.  It’s like the internal organs were being crushed and squeezed by the extra weight. 

Development- the last section was one of the toughest to get through.  It showed embryos from 4 weeks up to 8 weeks. I couldn’t see the embryo at 4 weeks… it was like a spec of sand.  At 8 or 10 weeks, it’s the size of a grain of rice, but you could make out little fingers.  After the embryonic stage, they had fetuses from I think 16 weeks to 33 weeks.  Fascinating to see the development, but hard to see as I could relate it all to E’s pregnancy and e’s development.  Especially the baby at 33 weeks.

Human Aesthetic- I’m not sure what to call this section, but they had exhibits where a man/woman would be in a beautiful pose, like an organic statue.  For example, they had a dancer “on point”, a skateboarder balancing on one hand, feet and board in the air, a male gymnast doing the splits, a female balancing on a balance beam or suspended from the ankles with an arched back.  There were a some exhibits showing a male and a female in a really beautiful pose together, but with an instructional message about the anatomy.  Again, really beautiful poses, but very surreal at the same time as it’s a person sans skin, and with some organs missing to show whatever system or structure it was intended to display.

So at the end, how do I feel about it all?  I think it raises some very interesting questions- it shows us humans in a very matter of fact manner, and in a very public way.  Every system is displayed, and I can say I learned quite a bit in the 90min it took me to go through it all.

The other question is- is that all we are?  Are we defined in absolute terms by our brains, nerves, bones, and blood?  From a physical standpoint, seeing how we develop from an imperceptible embryo to a full adult, it’s truly astonishing.  The other message I learned is that under our skin color, we are all the same.

In the end, as interested as I was in the science, I couldn’t help but to think about the exhibits as people.  All the donors are anonymous, because it’s not their identity that’s important.  You could tell that some of the donors were older, and not in the best of health.  But you could also tell some of the donors were young and healthy and strong.  I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to them.  What was it that led them to donate their body to the exhibit, to display their body in a most revealing and public manner?  For the couples, did they know each other in life? 

All throughout the exhibit were signs basically asking everyone to give thanks to the donors for giving us the opportunity to be educated.  I’m not sure if it’s suitable for kids of all ages, I personally don’t think I could have fully appreciated it highschool.  Should everyone see it?  I think it depends on the individual- but I did see a LOT of people, young and old, go through, and everyone looked to be very fascinated and appreciative.  And as I mentioned before, I learned a lot in a short time.

The exhibit is now open 24 hours until it closes tomorrow.