Bodies Exhibit Starting in Houston

Posted on January 4, 2006

John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science in Houston, Texas has announced that it will be hosting Premier's exhibit that features real human bodies. The exhibit, called Bodies, features 20 whole-body specimens and more than 250 organs and partial body specimens. It will use 20,000 square feet of exhibit space.

The specimens are preserved through a technique called polymer preservation, which involves using liquid silicone rubber that is treated and hardened. The specimens can take more than a year to prepare but cannot decompose.

Some of the exhibits include a healthy lung and a smoker's lung side by side. There are also bodies showing organ damage from over-eating and a lack of exercise. The people behind the bodies exhibit also say the specimens enable visitors to examine how our skeletal, muscular, respiratory and circulatory systems work.

The exhibit sounds both interesting and creepy.