Body Awareness

Body Worlds is an intriguing exhibition. Well, perhaps because the idea of seeing dead people up close is intriguing. Dead people? Hmm...maybe the term medical cadavers would be more respectful. For the uninformed, Body Worlds is this travelling exhibition of preserved human and body parts...somehow the list has somewhat expanded and they have on display preserved animal parts too.

Some interesting new bits I saw and learnt at the Science Centre today...something they did not teach us during biology lessons:

1) New word called plastination. It's the technique they use for preservation. Basically suck out the water and fats and replace with plastics then harden. Then they can manipulate and position the bodies at will.

2) We have all heard that smoking is unhealthy and numerous ads always seem to scare people by showing grotesque images of blackened lungs. Well this fact is even more reinforced in Body Worlds. Even after plastination, the blackened lungs stand out so prominently. Labels on the exhibit description never fail to point out the fact that the deceased is a smoker. Oh and it seems Santa Claus is a smoker too! (Blackened lungs for the cadaver riding the reindeer sleigh exhibit)

3) Drinking too much alcohol also leads to black spots in the liver. It's called cirrhosis and basically fucks up the liver, leaving behind those blackish dots. Time to cut down on the drinking...

4) The effect of haemorrhage and dementia in the brain looks pretty disturbing. Blood filling spaces in the brain for haemorrhage and the brain becomes more spongy and loose with the onset of dementia.

5) Blood vessels and capillaries when isolated and made into an exhibit looks very much like...floss! Yep...think pork floss on your favourite Breadtalk pork floss bun. Well, make that a blood floss bun then. (I will never look at a pork floss bun the same way again...)

6) Formaldehyde stinks.....real bad.

7) Very certain the cadavers were ang mohs. Larger body mass and those blue eyes staring back.

8) Muscles-wise we aren't that much different from giraffes or horses or a reindeer. Just that maybe certain muscle sets are more pronounced in one species compared to the other.

9) I have a normal blood pressure! 123/82 as compared to the 120/80 norm. Let's keep it that way! Hope I don't have that much LDL (aka bad cholesterol) in me though.

10) Squids and other weird deep sea creatures creep the shit out of me. There's a preserved squid at the exhibition. Freaky...give me a plate of calamari and I would gladly devour it...just don't dangle the live thing in front of me. They seriously look like some kinda parasitic alien from a sci-fi movie.

11) There's a magnetic resonance imaging technique that shows the act of sexual intercourse in MR images. A friend of mine said it was kinky but I don't think there was anything kinky about it. It sure was informative though. Perfect material for the parents explaining the birds and bees to their children. And it sure was funny trying to hear them explain to the children on the spot. In fact, I hear there was supposed to be an exhibit where the cadavers were displayed in a sex position. However, it was not available for this exhibition. How disappointing! Anw from the imaging, it seemed to be hinting to me that perhaps the doggy position would be more suitable for me as compared to the missionary. Hmmmm... :p