The body is comprised of many intricate systems including skeletal, nervous, digestive, muscular and circulatory.
These systems, as well as others, can be viewed firsthand in the forms of preserved specimens as the Discovery Center of Idaho (DCI) hosts the “BODIES REVEALED.” This exhibit showcases real organs while also presenting informative posts.
“Bone is a matrix of hard minerals built and maintained by bone cells. If you removed the minerals and kept the cells, you could tie your bones in a knot,” reads one of the first signs at the “BODIES REVEALED” exhibit. Many other fun facts were given and in-depth information was displayed next to specimens.
The first room of the exhibit is mainly comprised of the muscular and skeletal systems, along with the nervous system where preserved brains are displayed.
Skeletons with muscles attached were shown doing different activities.
“It’s fascinating to see the different aspects,” said John Shirts, a viewer of the exhibit. “The detail that is shown is just amazing. I think it’s fantastic, because you can see how the muscles stretch, the position of things, it’s just a different aspect that you just can’t imagine. You have to see it.”
In the second room, the organs and circulatory system were shown as well as full bodies to show how everything is layered within the body.
“I think it’s pretty interesting, kind of weird that it came from a real person, but I think it’s interesting,” said McKenna Lowe, freshman communication major. “So far I really like this (circulatory display). This is amazing to see all the arteries in the body and the circulatory system.”
All of these systems were preserved to ensure the longevity of the cells using the plastination process.
“They take a specimen and they immerse it in acetone and what happens is the acetone goes into the cells replacing all the water that’s in the cells,” said Woody Sobey, DCI education director. “They then take it out of the acetone and put it into a bath of silicone and then pull a vacuum on that, and what happens when you pull a vacuum is that the acetone will boil away, and when the acetone boils away the silicone goes in and replaces it inside the cells, and the silicone will naturally harden. But, what they do is they pull it out of the bath and hit it will a catalyst to expedite that process and what you’re left with is a specimen that has been preserved down to the cellular level.”
Nurses, medical assistants and Boise State students were among the people walking around the exhibition and said they found the information presented educational.
The show will run through March 31.
For more information please go to DCI’s website atscidaho.org or the BODIES REVEALED website at bodiesrevealed.com.
