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This is the logo for Body Worlds.
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Students receive an eyefull at Body Worlds anatomy exhibit
Sabrina Ziegler | 3/31/08 | Section
ranite Hills students learned about the inner workings and saw, first hand, how an entire network of functions comprise the human body, when they took in a scientific display of dead people, dissected and preserved through an anatomical technique known as plastination.
A group of students from Tiffany Ross’s physiology and Advanced Placement Psychology classes spent their Friday afternoon at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, next door to the University of Southern California, where the Body Worlds tour is being held until early September.
The exhibition, which travels from state to state every few months, features an exclusive collection of real dead specimens -or plastinates- molded individually to present a variety of perspectives of the human body.
A crowd of onlookers muttered expressions of wonderment as they attended the Body Worlds exhibit that featured authentic human embryos, arterial configurations, skeletons, hearts and other organs.
“I’m having a hard time believing this is real,” Cathy Bouchareune said, an AP Psychology and physiology student, as she recalled seeing a section of the exhibit that featured embryos, preserved from various developmental stages.
The students were able to roam about the exhibit and three-story Science Center unaccompanied, in case they needed a break or became overwhelmed with the graphic nature of the Body Worlds displays. However, many spent the two and a half hours absorbing all the information they could attain from the exhibit.
Emmy Lou Dowling, a physiology student who plans to major in biology and study to become a doctor, attended the field trip and engaged in learning more about the human anatomy.
“I liked it a lot. I thought it was going to be different [as in less crowded], but it was cool,” Dowling said.
The students’ tickets not only admitted them to witness the Body Worlds display that began on the first floor and continued on the third, but also included a 45-minute informational film called “The Human Body.” The film was shown in an IMAX theatre, adjacent to the Science Center, prior to entrance into the exhibit.
Arlina Gillett, a Granite Hills counselor, chaperoned the trip. It was her first time seeing Body Worlds, though she had been in New York a few months back, when it was being held there. The exhibit was very informational, she said.
“It was interesting, just to see the locations of the organs and their functions. I learned a lot,” Gillett said.
Though there were no tour guides included, attendees could purchase an audio guide that went into further detail about the presented objects and what they revealed. For those who didn’t purchase an audio guide, a brief description of each model was made available.
“The human body is an awesome machine,” Gillett said, at the end of the field trip.
The process of plastination was created in 1978, by Dr. Gunther Van Hagen. It has, since then, taken the place of less-efficient preservation processes and has come to be known as an anatomical breakthrough, revealing new information about the human body, to scientists, and an exclusive viewing opportunity for the public.
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