BODIES exhibit opens at Mall of America

[okarol]

BODIES exhibit opens at Mall of America
By Mike Hanks - Sun Newspapers
(Created: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 10:10 PM CDT)

The Mall of America is offering up an anatomy lesson unavailable in any Twin Cities classroom.

"BODIES ... The Exhibition" opened Saturday, Aug. 8, on the mall's fourth floor. Displaying a dozen full-body specimens and numerous organs, bones, muscles and tissue, the exhibit provides a look at the human body in a way few have seen before.

"What they see is very real," said Dr. Roy Glover, the exhibit's chief medical director and a retired professor of anatomy at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The exhibit provides a look at the skeletal, muscular, reproductive, respiratory and circulatory systems of the body, using human specimens preserved with liquid silicone rubber. The specimens are from China, where the leading anatomical dissectors are found, Glover said.

The bodies come from medical schools, having either been donated for medical research and education or having been unidentified corpses, Glover explained. Donations for medical research are "a gift to us who are alive," he said.

In addition to bodies and organs on display, the exhibit has information and trivia about the body. "It's a learning environment," Glover said.

That learning environment includes a comparison of two lungs, one considered healthy, the other having been subjected to cigarette smoke. Other displays show the affects of over-eating, heart disease, kidney disease and breast cancer.

Most of the exhibit is hands off, but there is an area near the end that allows people to touch or hold parts of the body, such as a brain, Glover noted.

Although science museums may seem like a logical location for the exhibit, BODIES has been featured at other malls and at casinos in Las Vegas and Connecticut, according to Glover. "We've been in many malls," he said. "We go where people tend to congregate."

Traveling exhibits are not new to the mall, according to Dan Jasper, the mall's director of public relations. "This is an exhibit that appeals to families and tourists," he said. "We think it's a really good fit for the Mall of America."

The exhibit is open daily. The hours are 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $22 for adults, $18 for seniors and $14 for children age 4-13. Group discounts and family ticket plans are available. Tickets are available online at www.bodiestickets.com.

BODIES runs through Jan. 10. Exhibit information is available online at www.bodiestheexhibition.com.

PHOTO:  Preserved human specimens will be on display at the Mall of America in Bloomington during the next five months. “BODIES … The Exhibition” opened at the mall Aug. 8. (Mike Hanks Sun Newspapers)

http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2009/08/12/news/dw13bodies.txt

[paul.karen]

I will be going to see this in NYC later this year.

I saw a program on Discovery channel about how they make these, pose them and ect.  Very interesting and a little gruesome as well.  There is even a man on a horse both of them plasmatised.
Also a good learning tool for children to see what disease can do to the body-IE a lung from a non-smoker and a lung from a smoker.
Wonder if i will see a PKD kidney.....

[Zach]

And a number of the families of the chinese cadavers used did not give permission.

[dwcrawford]

Can't we just read about it and use our imagination.  I had to pay a kid to dissect my frogs in high  school biology.
















d

[paul.karen]

Well Zach i dont recall the Discovery program stating that fact.
But i have no reason not to trust your word.
If i make it onto jeopardy will you be my phone a friend

DW, Close your eyes..

[Zach]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4296982&page=1

Just goes with much labeled, "Made in China."

[paul.karen]

 

[texasstyle]

I saw this a couple years back in Phila. I thought it was going to be creepy but it wasn't. It was very educational. One of the things that impressed me most was a glass block with only the arteries/capillaries of a human in "statue" form if you will. It was amazing. Fingers toes, noses... practically every inch covered. The horse with man on is huge! Some of the nerves  are nearly as thick as a pencil. That surprised me. It may not be for everyone though.

[paul.karen]

Texasstyle,
Have you been to the mutters museum?
Not to be confused with the mummers museum.

If you liked Bodies exhibit this is just as wild with many interesting things to look at.  Kinda verges on the gory side like oddities and defects preserved for medical students to study.

[peleroja]

I saw this when it was in SoCal.  No book pictures even do the body justice.  This is an incredible exhibit.  When I saw it, they also had a giraffe and an ostrich. 

[tyefly]

   I also went to see this when it was here at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry ) here in Portland, Oregon....  I found it to be one of the most interesting exhibits that I have seen in a very long time.... I was so amazed on the graphic stuctures of our bodies and how they displayed each person in a active form.....This was truely beautiful Art work....      I would see this again........ 

         I did see the giraffe too .....  always wondered what that hump look like........

[RightSide]

I once saw an exhibit like this at a local hospital. They showed a so-called "Healthy Lung" next to a "Lung of Cigarette Smoker."  The cigarette smoker's lung was jet black, as I expected. But even the so-called "Healthy Lung" was peppered with little black spots, each about the size of a dime.

I asked the presenter what all those black spots were in the "Healthy Lung."  She replied, "Oh, that's just from air pollution."

[Jie]

It is a great exhibit. I saw it in Europe two years ago.

[Chris]

The exhibt was at our museum twice and I missed them both. I wanted to see it too especially after watching how they make them o Discovery Channel. They showed how they made the horse in a running position with a corpse on top to show various things.

I just like medical stuff and the gross factor  Unless it comes to needles and me 

[paris]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4296982&page=1

Just goes with much labeled, "Made in China."

There seems to be enough facts to believe  the origin of some of the bodies were from China.  They are bodies from somewhere and I would like some information exhibited regarding the donation of the bodies.   We have to have disclaimers
on everything else "no animals were hurt in this film", etc.   Just a thought

[texasstyle]

Paul.Karen, I have not been yet but a friend of mine told me about a couple years back. I have seen it on the news and went to their website. The site gives you a visual tour. I'd like to try to get there soon. Maybe this fall. I hope it wouldn't spoil a nice dinner in the city afterwards lol. Carolyn

[Chris]

There must be two different companies doing these exhibts now. The one that was here that was shown on tv and the one I saw on Discovery channel used a variety of nationality of bodies.

[kitkatz]

There are several companies doing these exhibits. Body Worlds was the first to legally do this to a human body. I went to the exhibit. Fascinating and a little gruesome.