Body Worlds

[hismikeness]

Has anyone seen the traveling exhibit called Body Worlds? I had a chance to see one of their many exhibits this past weekend at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) and was blown away. 

The real human bodies are donated and then plastinated, which is a process that preserves the tissues in their natural form in plastic. The bodies are then posed in different positions, revealing the many intricacies which lie just below the skin. To make it more real, and less gruesome, they add eyeballs, lips and the skin around the tips of the nose, as well as some hair.

The exhibit I saw focused on the brain and brain injuries, and I believe is the newest of all the iterations. It really was fascinating. If you get a chance to see this or any other Body Worlds exhibit, I can't recommend it enough.

Here are some examples:



They even have some animals. I've seen pictures of bodies posed on horses, and the one at OMSI had a full size giraffe.

[Buddy]

I've been to that! It's what got me interested in taxidermy.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

I saw a similar exhibit in Texas.  There was some criticism that some of the bodies were taken from prisoners in China, but I didn't see any indication that anyone had been put to death for this purpose.  It was very interesting.

[hismikeness]

I saw a similar exhibit in Texas.  There was some criticism that some of the bodies were taken from prisoners in China, but I didn't see any indication that anyone had been put to death for this purpose.  It was very interesting.

It was made pretty clear from the literature of this exhibit that no identification or cause of death was given out. There were a couple of displays that still had some skin on the hands, and I could see tatoos on the webs of skin between the thumb and index fingers, which could possibly be prison tatoos?

[Tank]

Not been to one of these yet, but I would love to. The chap who does this did a programme on anatomy on Channel 4 in the UK and was the first time that an autopsy was shown on UK TV.

[not your typical...]

Seen it. Hated it. Not a big fan of studying anatomy. Kinda reminds me of a sad fact...

[squidfetish]

I've always wanted to visit one of these....

[squidfetish]

Out of interest, would any of you consider donating your festering cadaver to this sort of display?

[Buddy]

Out of interest, would any of you consider donating your festering cadaver to this sort of display?

Yes. It would either be this or being cremated. I would love for my body to be put to good use.

[Matthaios]

Bit too gruesome for me (I get squeamish very easily!) but my wife (who's a medical student) would probably love it! 

[Tank]

Out of interest, would any of you consider donating your festering cadaver to this sort of display?

I hadn't but I think I would rather it go to medical use.

[xm1]

Out of interest, would any of you consider donating your festering cadaver to this sort of display?

Only if i was offered a newer version in trade.

[Crocoduck]

Raj: We just got back from that exhibit of those plasticised human cadavers.

Howard: And some of those skinless chicks were hot.

The Big Bang Theory Series 2 Episode 01 – The Bad Fish Paradigm