Jhb-BODY WORLDS Tuesday 21st - Wednesday 22nd May

JOHANNESBURG: Tuesday  21^st May 2013

This morning we stayed at 94 Ernest Rd and did some school work while granny was at work. We had booked to go and see the Body Worlds Exhibition in the afternoon.

BRYCE’S POST:  BODY WORLDS & The Life Cycle

At the Body Worlds exhibition held at the Sci Bono Discovery Centre we saw the most amazing things.  We were not allowed to take photographs inside the exhibition but you could hire audio guides to take with you. You would press the specific number displayed if you wanted to find our more information.

Dr Gunther von Hagens  is a scientist & physician that invented plastination. Plastination is the process used to preserve body parts so that they can be displayed realistically and not submerged in formaldehyde. Firstly he takes people who have donated their body to science after their death, he removes all the fluid from the body and replaces with with a plastic type of substance into the body which helps preserve it.

The exhibition starts off with a slide show showing people from youth changing into old age. The next portion was involved in conception & they had displays of babies from the beginning of the third week to newborn. The one was smaller than my pinky nail.

Then it moved onto real live skeleton where half of the body was only the skeleton and the other half, the skin had been pealed back for the view of the muscle. This sounds disgusting but the way that it is displayed is unique and incredibly interesting. He has taken human bodies and displayed them in ways you would never imagine e.g. a man jumping over a fence, a lady dancing, highjump and a man steering a ship. You can actually see the muscles in action.

It gives examples of when the body is healthy and when it breaks down. E.g. There was a display of a lady with a hip, ankle, knee and shoulder surgery and where the metal plates were exposed.

Also we saw a normal lung next to a smokers lung. The normal lung was healthy & clean but the smokers lung was covered with tar and discolouration.  We saw healthy arteries and then clogged arteries as well as a video of how the fatty deposits build up on the walls of the arteries.

We saw displays of the brain, ear, hand and the smallest bones in the body which are the ear bones of hammer, anvil & stirrup.

One of the freakiest things we saw, was a man whose head had been cut in half. They had not removed the skin , eyes and face and had preserved it this way with the brain exposed. He looked so alive from the shoulders up.

We even got to see the whole nerve supply of the body and how it runs to every part. Amazing!!!!!

The small intestines in the digestive system was displayed and they are 9metres long when unraveled. Can you believe they are called your small intestines?

The biggest lesson I came away with was how important it is to look after your body as it is amazing how all these parts work together and fit so perfectly into one body.  God  is such an amazing creator that it is unbelievable.

The one quote that we read & I cannot remember who the author was but it inspired me to live life to the fullest, “ It is not the years in your life that matter but the LIFE in your years.”