Body Worlds II

So this week, I finally went to see The Body Worlds II. I've been meaning to see it since January, but it has taken the fact that the exhibit was ending (THIS WEEKEND!) in Chicago to get me to finally book the tickets and go. And to think, its not even that far from where I live, seriously. Anyways, we booked tickets to see the Human Body imax and the exhibition because we thought it was all together. Not so. While the imax wasn't too bad, it wasn't quite what we were expecting- a detailed video of how they plastinate people. It was a video of how the human body works and it was cool in that they actually showed real videos of how a foetus is developed inside it's mother and how food is churned in the stomach and gall bladder splurts out bile in the small intestines. I've learnt in theory all these things, butI've never actually seen it happen. Oh and did you know that our hands were oringally a big blob of cells and the shape was formed as the cells degenerate? Sigh, I wish the cells at the tip of my fingers would've stayed, I'd have liked longer and leaner finger. But yeah, not exactly what we were hyping up for.

Anyway, the actual exhibit was quite fascinating. The bones, the brains, the real organs, the giant camel, the floating nerves and of course- the actual bodies. It was amazing the way they were preserved. You can even see the eyes and the eye lashes! Oh and there were interesting historical displays hanging around too. Like how Da Vinci used to dig up bodies in grave yards and dissected them to get a better sense of the body. And how Frogandard was quite the anatomist himself- and who knew from his gorgeous paintings?
My only slight concern with the exhibit was the artistic displays of the human body, which seemed kind of unneccesary. Its hard to remember sometimes that these were actually human beings. Especially when one see's displays like the drawer man, where chunks were cut and pulled out of the body like drawers and the spiral man, whose body was cut out like spirals. And the ballerina, football and yoga positions. . . I know it says its to show the muscles of the human body in action, but it felt more like they were placed like that for a better display. I'm aware that if they didn't do things like these, I probably wouldn't have found the exhibit quite as fascinating, but then this other part of me remembers that these are real. . . . .
And lastly, here is what your lungs look like if you smoke.

Overall, it was a great experience. The human body is truly amazing. If you haven't already, check out if they're coming to your area next on their site!