Holy crap! I just saw a bunch of dissected dead people! Seriously. We went to Bodies: The Exhibition at the South Street Seaport. It was absolutely amazing, and strangely moving. I’m still dealing with it, but here are some highlights.
- A spinal cord laid out in a case, complete with brain and eyes.
- The entire circulatory system, standing up in human form.
- Fetal growth examples, starting at 2 weeks. You should see the bone development at 15 weeks, it’s remarkable. Did you know we each spent 30 minutes as a single cell.
- Cancer of the penis. Just as horrible as it sounds.
- I got to hold a brain. It was heavy (8 pounds).
- I got to pick up a bone. It was strong (6 times stronger than steel).
- I got to feel a muscle. It was fiberous (like beef jerky).
- They cut a body longways (head-to-toe) into five pieces.
And they were are real. Real people, who donated their bodies before they died. Some were diseased or malformed people, some were perfectly normal. Word is they have 800 people on tap to be dissected for the continuation of the project.
One odd thing is that the only women in the exhibit were there as examples of obesity and pregnancy; the implication being that women are just fat or have babies. I don’t know if I’d protest like that, but it was odd.
Anyway, see it if you ever can. It was utterly amazing. Even Gene Simmons digs it! (A link.)