Body World 2 @ Ontario Science Centre

January 3, 2006 - I had the opportunity to check out the new Body World 2 exhibit at the Science Centre yesterday. It has been a few years since I have visited and I have to say that things have changed quite a bit since my last visit - more on that later though.

So after lining up for almost 40 minutes and paying $25 just to get in, we were told that the Body World exhibit requires a time-ticket, which means you have to show up at a designated time or else, lose the opportunity to see it. So we quickly grabbed some lunch and lined up for another 30 minutes to get into the exhibit.

For those who don't know, Body World is an exhibition featuring real human corpses and body parts. The bodies have been preserved using a process called plastination, which replaces the body's water tissue with fluid plastics that harden after all the air inside has been removed. Hardening the plastic allows the bodies to be fixed into life-like poses that illustrate how our bodies react to movements and physical activities.

At first glance, the bodies look pretty fake - but when you take a closer look, you can then see the muscles, the nerves, the bones, along with hair, fingernails, teeth, and even eyelashes. Even though the skin has been stripped off, you have no doubt that these are real human beings that you're looking at. There are about 20 or so full bodies in all, along with hundreds of body parts and a few animal corpses. Some of the bodies have been sliced in half, in thirds, or even in hundreds of pieces - all for the sake of education - so we could see what our bodies look like.

Some of the displays are definitely educational - like the blackened lungs from a smoker or the brain of a man who died from a stroke. Some of them are, in my opinion, a bit questionable and quite..gross. There are a couple of bodies in various athletic poses (one of the displays features a pair of figure skates, doing the death spiral) - but their bodies have been sliced in half to reveal which muscles are being stretched, or their torsos have been opened to feature the internal organs. Then there is also a display that features a pregnant woman who was 5.5 months pregnant, with her womb opened to reveal the fetus still inside.

There are also a number of fetuses - one display features the sequence of fetuses aged between 4 weeks to 8 weeks old - you can see the eyes, the buds (which become the arms and legs), and even the heart. It's definitely neat to see them in person (as opposed to seeing pictures in a textbook), but it's still somewhat disturbing if you remember that you're looking at a human being who never really had a chance to live...

The exhibit is definitely neat to check out - it's something that you don't get to see everyday. Still, I was quite nauseous the whole time I was there (I think seeing this big camel being sliced into 3 parts with each part positioned differently did it for me) and towards the end of the exhibit, I was pretty sick. Anyway though, this exhibit has definitely brought in much needed income to the Science Centre, and anything that supports our cultural institutions is a good thing - even if it involves sliced up body parts =)

Oh one other note: the new sections of the Science Centre are really neat - they are much brighter, more modern looking spaces featuring high-tech video imaging and some really neat displays. I especially liked the new KidSpark area - complete with a make-believe supermarket, slides, and really cool jungle gyms. Too bad I had to lie to get in there (it was limited to kids under 12). They are also currently redesigning the Grand Hall (near the entrance), scheduled to open later this year - the new hall will feature a whole series of art work by both local and international artists.

Check out the Science Centre website: http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/default.asp