Bodyworlds 2

Just got back from Bodyworlds 2 at the Ontario Science Centre.

It was a very interesting exhibit... to see the intricate details of the human body. At the same time, seeing some of the specimens made me feel somewhat sad and somewhat disgusted. (Incase you didn't check out the link, Bodyworlds showcases real human bodies that have gone through a plastination process. The bodies are then sliced, dissected, or pulled apart to show us the insides.

If you're interested in what was on display, click Expand to read the list.

Some of the more memorable specimens (that I can remember) included:
- the (intact) skull and brain of a baby
- different hearts showing diseases, results of stroke or tumors
- various human brains
- various thin slices of the body
- a man's muscular system, standing beside his own skelatal system which was holding the hand of his (infant) son's skeletal body.
- a large camel and it's baby, with the skin peeled away to show the inner organs (and the head was sliced down into three sections)
- 4 (or 5) unborn fetuses at different stages of growth
- a pregnant woman with the fetus still in her body
- a dissected uterus, showing the unborn fetus
- various skinned animals (goats, horses, ducks, chickens rabbits)
- a huge elephant's heart (this one wasn't part of Bodyworlds, but rather the centre's more permanent exhibit, The Human Body)
- a non-smoker's lungs, a smoker's lungs, and a coal-miner's lungs (by comparison, the smoker's lungs looked much healthier than the coal miner's)
- they also had a booth where you could touch an actual brain and some slices of the body
- another specimen, an old male, was divided into about 10 or 12 perfectly cut vertical slices

An exhibit like this really makes you appreciate life and the intracite details of your own body.
Rabbana maa khalaqta hadha batilaa. Subhanaka faqina adhaab an-naar.

It's also hard to keep reminding yourself that what you're looking at once belonged to an actual living, breathing, walking human being.

O mankind! if ye are in doubt concerning the Resurrection, then lo! We have created you from dust, then from a drop of seed, then from a clot, then from a little lump of flesh shapely and shapeless, that We may make (it) clear for you. And We cause what We will to remain in the wombs for an appointed time, and afterward We bring you forth as infants, then (give you growth) that ye attain your full strength. And among you there is he who dieth (young), and among you there is he who is brought back to the most abject time of life, so that, after knowledge, he knoweth naught.

Verily We created man from a product of wet earth;
Then placed him as a drop (of seed) in a safe lodging;
Then fashioned We the drop a clot, then fashioned We the clot a little lump, then fashioned We the little lump bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, and then produced it as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators!
Then lo! after that ye surely die.
Then lo! on the Day of Resurrection ye are raised (again).