20060108 - Crystal River (We see Bodies - The Exhibition)

This week we went to see ‘Bodies - The Exhibition’ at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa. This awesome exhibit features a display of 20 cadavers and 260 organs and body parts in various states of dissection that are protected from decay via Plastination (a process also known as Polymer Preservation, which involves draining the body’s fat and fluids and replacing them with polymers like silicone rubber, epoxy and polyester). Bodies features skinless, specially preserved human bodies (see image below) meant to display how the different anatomical systems (skeletal, muscular, circulatory, gastrointestinal, respiratory, neurological, reproductive, etc) work together. Because these were human corpses, this was a very controversial exhibit when it first opened. There were thousands of people at the exhibit the day we visited it.
To prepare the exhibition, legally obtained human bodies were acquired by the Dalian Medical university in China and were painstakingly prepared (in some cases thousands of hours were devoted to just one specimen by anatomists) to present them for public education. In addition, individual body parts were preserved to reveal their true appearance. Two of the exhibits featured corpses preserved and displayed in poses with titles like "Running Man" and "Soccer Player." Another exhibit featured an entire human body sliced into 1/32 thick layers, basically turning the body into a series of life-sized CAT scans. Still another exhibit featured a body in a seated position, with its spinal column laid open, providing a rare first-person view of how it all goes together. The body has been arranged to appear to be reading a thick text on the inner workings of the brain. All of the exhibits were amazing, but there were so many we really suffered from information overload.
As I walked through the exhibits I found myself looking to understand how my surgeries had been done and where and how things fit together in my body both before and after the surgeries. As I listened to others viewing the exhibits, that seemed to be what many others were doing as well.
This week I also spent some time reviewing 2005 and working on my personal goals and objectives for 2006. Among my current goals of: becoming a better spouse, a better sibling, and a better friend are my personal goals to improve my health and appearance. Unfortunately, although I know (in my head) that the most important thing I need to do to improve my health and appearance is to get more exercise and lose weight, instead I find myself looking at potions to improve my skin and/or hair. I guess I need to keep working on the plan.