December 16, 2008

  • bodyworlds

    Bodyworlds

    A few months back, I went to a very interesting exhibit called "Bodyworlds." It's a moving exhibition of the human body that travels around the world. They usually offer it at several locations at the same time. Right now, it's at Salt Lake City, Houston, London and Belgium. They preserve human bodies through a process called plastination.

    I jotted down some interesting facts I learned from the exhibit, but I totally forgot about them till the other day. So I'll share them now. Better late than never, right?

    Broken Heart Syndrome - There is a medical condition called Broken Heart Syndrome AKA Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. You can literally die of a broken heart. The symptoms are very similar to a heart attack, except all your cholesterol levels check out fine. So the next time someone says "I can't live without him/her!", they might not be acting overly dramatic.

    Lance Armstrong - Lance Armstrong is a freak. He was born with a heart that's 33% larger than the norm. Yes, he still trains super hard for all his tournaments, but that makes more sense why he's won so many Tour de France tournaments.

    Veins & Arteries - If you were to unravel all your veins and arties and lined them up, they would measure over 60,000 miles! That's twice the circumference of Earth! Pretty crazy, huh?

    The exhibit showcased several full human bodies doing various sports. They sliced away some parts to show you how the muscles and everything looked while performing that activity. I couldn't help but stare at the male cadavers' penises. I wasn't turned on by them, FYI! It was just interesting to stare at. Some of them had really big penises, even for being flaccid. There were also some really small penises. I remember reading a story about chinese cadavers being illegally used for the exhibit. Those were probably the chinese cadavers.

    And last but not least, there were fetuses in jars. They freaked me out. Basically, they had many jars showing a fetus in varying stages of development. The first fetus was so small, like the size of a bug. It's extremely creepy and disturbing to see a little human in a jar.

    Overall, I had a very fun time at the exhibit. I was just sad that they didn't allow photos inside, but other than that, it was a really cool exhibition.

Comments (30)

  • They have something like that at South St. Seaport.
    I went several years back & it still haunts me to this very day.

    haha

  • I would go just to visit the penis.

  • Fetuses in jars ftw.

  • Illegal Chinese product...I'd never thunk it.

  • i saw that in NYC... good stuff

  • Broken heart syndrom eh? Interesting...

  • I eventually wanna go to that exhibit. Don't know why I didn't go when I had a chance to when it was in Baltimore. I think I just didn't wanna pay the cost of getting in haha. Broken Heart Syndrome...hmm, not sure if that would be a good or bad death.

  • Sounds like fun. Haven't heard of Broken heart syndrome before.

  • i heart u

  • you CAN die of a broken heart? had anyone died of a broken heart before? that'd be pretty interesting.

  • I went to it the first time when I was in London and saw it again when I was back in the states.

  • I went to see it in KC with my sister and mom. My sister is a doctor and also pregnant so she really wanted to see the fetuses to see their developmental stages. She said it is completely different then seeing them in medical texts and parenting books. It was interesting but I hated how it looked like the eyes on the full body specimens kept following us around the room.

    The chinese cadavers were not used illegally but there is controversy over how the Chinese govt. acquired them. There're rumors that really they were prisoners put to death secretly without trials, etc. Also that they were homeless people the Chinese govt. secretly "removed from society."

  • Yeah, the exhibit was here last year I think it was... Went to see that too! Pretty neat stuff.

  • Sounds like "The Bodies Exhibit" that was at South St. Seaport. It's so interesting! The fetuses in the jar really freaked me out too.

  • i went to the exhibition with my god-bro and parents when it was here in Singapore a few years back. i was amazed at the way the bodies are sliced up into thin pieces to show the different level of all the tissues and veins of our body. also, several bodies are donated by actual criminals sentenced to death. i was impress by this. on top of that, of course, the exhibition was great! although there was a constant wharf of wax, chemical etc.

  • I had want to visit the one in LA, but did not have a chance yet.  Sounds interesting, too bad they disallow pictures.  I want to visit, and now worry their eyes follow me around the exhibit, kind of creepy. 

  • You could take pictures outside of the exhibit.
    Yeah, the broken heart syndrome-interesting.

    I saw the one in NYC. They also had one in Vancouver.

  • Saw it in Pittsburgh.

  • fascinating stuff, that body worlds. did they have the deceased pregnant lady with her fetus on exhibit this time? did you see the horse at the end also? plastination... what a freaky but ingenious method for examining the human body, right?

  • I went to it when it was showcased in Hong Kong!
    It was quite freaky initially, but then you get fascinated by all those body parts. Awesome.

  • Wow. A big heart...
    =D

    You couldn't draw the stuff you saw?
    = (

  • OMG! I'm actually going tomorrow! =]

  • i remember watching a discovery show about fetuses in a jar and it freaked me out like heck :/ can't imagine seeing them for real. i'd probably flail my arms in the air and break all the jars. haha. the veins & artaries thing is crazy =o

  • Dammit,they don't allow cameras! And why is it disturbing to see a little human in a jar?

  • Performance enhancing drugs vs naturally performanced enhanced abnormalities ... which is fair?

  • hahahaha chinese penises

  • I went when it was in St. Louis, and I ended up getting really light-headed towards the end. I just had a very strange feeling looking at all that.

  • I went with my younger cousin and thought I'd be freaked out by it, but I wasn't.... until my cousin and I came upon the nervous system thing. You know the one -- the brain with eyeballs and a million jellylike trailing branching tentacles. She and I both asked each other simultaneously:

    Her: "Oh god, what if you saw that thing floating out of your closet?"
    Me: "Jesus, imagine that holy horror creeping up out of the shower drain."

    I still check to make sure the strainer is wedged firmly into my shower drain and I haven't opened my closet since.

  • Eh, where'd they get those feti?

    Btw, i'm not asian, but i squat like a champ, flat-footed and all. My other white friends can't do it without gettin' up on their haunches. Admitedly though, it makes my knees hurt after like 10minutes. Why do you think that would be? I wouldn't have had the biological line of that -- i don't think my parents or grandparents have ever even tried it...
    Anyway, just thought it was interesting that you posted about that, since i thought it was funny that none of my other white friends can do it.

  • Glad you liked this exhibit. I saw it when it first came out in San Francisco. High school physiology field trip. I was expecting to be SUPER scared but to my surprise everything looked really fake, like it was made of plastic (lol of course, plastination)

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