Plastination

It's been a busy weekend, but the highlight was definitely my trip to the Science Place this evening http://www.natureandscience.org. A large group of us from church headed out to see the temporary exhibit called Body Worlds and the IMAX movie The Human Body. It was completely packed, and it has been since the exhibit opened last fall. The gist of it is a German scientist preserved a variety of human bodies/human organs etc from donors to give you an inside look at what the body looks like, how it works and how it looks working. He used a process called plastination where he basically fills the body with some sort of substance that fills it and basically turns the insides into 'plastic.' There were four rooms full of 'bodies.' Each room concentrated on different elements-the muscles, nerves, organs-you name it-they covered it. They also showed lungs/smoker's lungs and all sorts of body parts with cancer and other illnesses. It's just an experience you can't really describe-you have to see it. There was also a exhibit dedicated to growth and development of an infant. There was even a mother who was almost full term they had with the baby still inside and enough of the outer layer was cut away so you could see the workings and 'home' of this baby. They also showed each stage of development. We walked away with a lot more questions than answers. At the end you could get information for donating your body for plastination. In case you are wondering, I didn't feel drawn to get any information regarding further information on that matter...