Saturday, August 25, 2007

Bodies...

So, I took Isaac, Annette, and Christopher Robin to see Bodies, the Exhibition today.

It was, in a word, freaky. And pretty cool, too. Collin didn't go because he already had a chance to see it with some friends a few months ago. He and Joni went to play at a friend's house for the afternoon.

The fact that the displays were actual cadavers was a little weird, but it didn't seem to bother the kids at all. I was a little concerned about bringing Annette, both because I was worried she might be a little freaked out, and because we weren't sure if she would really be interested or get much out of it. I needn't have been concerned about the first part - she clearly understood that it was dead bodies, but it didn't bother her a bit, she was just curious and fascinated. As far as it being something she was interested in...well, we asked her what she wanted to learn by going to it, and she immediately started with "I want to learn how this is put together!" pointing at her ankle, and moving it around. Followed by her knee, and other parts of her body, for the next 30 minutes or so she asked lots of questions, and had lots of theories about what was inside her. So, clearly we had to take her. We were worried about Isaac for different reasons...he tends to get tired of museums and other activities quickly, and starts to whine and complain after a fairly short time. I decided to chance it anyway, since I thought he would find it interesting. Luckily, he didn't have too many problems.

We got there, got our tickets, and went into the first room, which was about bones. Like all of the exhibits, these were entirely real bones from actual cadavers. The kids were particularly interested in the three tiny bones from the ear, and the complete spine. After looking at the example spine, Isaac bent over as far as he could, and then leaned back the other way, while we talked about how the small bones in his spine allowed it to be flexible. Annette was also fascinated by the fact that there are no bones in the outside part of her ear. She pointed out the small hole in the head of the skeleton, and we discussed that the outside part of her ear was mostly made of cartilage. I let Christopher Robin explore wherever he wanted, as long as he stayed in the room we were in. He did a good job following this rule, and it was good that he didn't have to stick with us, since he wanted to look at things at a different pace from his brother and sister.

The next rooms showed muscles, nerves, the endocrine system, the circulatory system, and the reproductive organs. One of the most memorable parts to me was one exhibit where a skeleton and the muscles and tendons from the same body stood facing each other, holding hands. I'm not sure if Isaac and Annette ever quite 'got it', though. She seemed to think the skeleton and muscles were 'friends'. I guess that's close enough to true. :-) Another impressive part was the room with the circulatory system. I'm not sure how they managed it, but they had veins and capillaries separated from the various organs and other parts of the body, down to fine, fuzzy-looking capillaries. They even had an entire body-sized circulatory system. Christopher Robin had several questions for one of the employees of the exhibit in this room, who seemed fairly well-informed. Another display included the fairly predictable comparison of a healthy lung and one from a longtime smoker, looking....nasty. Next to this display was a large clear plastic container with a cigarette-box shaped hole in the top. There were several packs of cigarettes in the bottom. After I explained what was going on, Isaac wanted to go buy some cigarettes to put in the box. So, the exhibit actually *encouraged* my son to want to go buy cigarettes....oh well. :-) I explained that, no, we didn't want to go out and buy cigarettes for the box, but if any of us *did* smoke, we might decide not to because it was so unhealthy for our lungs.

The next room was the room with the reproductive system, and Annette wanted to know where the eggs were kept...so we found where the ovaries were on one of the models. In a small hallway off of this room, there was a room with a warning sign, that explained that the room contained embryos and fetuses, which were recovered from pregnancies that failed due to natural causes. I debated for several minutes whether to bring Annette into that room, because I didn't want to disturb her. Since we were in the reproductive room already, she asked if there were any babies. So, after having a talk with her and the boys, and preparing to deal with any problems she might have had, we went in. Isaac, at this point, was so tired I don't think he really cared one way or another. We went into the room, which had embryos from various weeks of development, as well as fetuses up to about 7 months. Annette was fascinated, and at first I didn't think she realized they were 'real' babies...but then she asked how one of them died. I was worried for a bit, however, while she was sad about it, she was very matter of fact and self-controlled. I explained that it didn't say why the babies died, but that sometimes things went wrong while the baby was in the mommy's tummy. She accepted this explanation, and was ok with the displays, which I was relieved about. I guess I shouldn't have been worried, since she had been so phlegmatic throughout the entire exhibit. Christopher Robin was a little unsettled by this room, but he was ok. And Isaac still seemed to tired to care.

The final room contained a few more models, and a large cross-section view of another body, with mounted transverse slices from an entire body. There was also a small display where you could touch a preserved heart and brain. Annette and Isaac very much wanted to touch them, but Christopher Robin wouldn't have anything to do with it. After a brief stop in the gift shop, I took the kids across the way for some ice cream, which they appreciated very much. Afterwards, we went to visit with some friends, and had a lovely dinner.

I think it was a very rewarding experience for all of the kids, and I'm glad that my fears of them being freaked out by the displays were unfounded. They all seemed interested, looked at all of the exhibits, and asked all kinds of questions. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in the area. I think there are several more cities on the 'tour', and it's in the Raleigh/Durham area for another week or so.

3 Comments:

Blogger Jason said...

I actually passed up an opportunity to go to this exhibit when it came to Denver. I never did stomach these things well and couldn't find the interest in myself.

I'm glad you and your family enjoyed it though. It's good to see you blogging again.

12:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brains!

Monica and I talked about going. Without seeing it, I made the judgement that it was presented in a way that smacked of a freak show. And, oh, by the way, you will learn something.

Sounds like it was a bit more than that. Still, not sure I am that interested. The technology use to do this is, of course, astounding.

11:24 PM  
Blogger Robin Norwood said...

Todd:

Actually, the presentation was, I though, very respectful. The did have some of the bodies posed in 'sports' activities (swinging a tennis racket). At least to me, this seemed more of a way to show that bodies are active things - not all in a standard 'at ease' pose or something.

However, after we went, I did some research on the Internets, and there *is* a little bit of a question about the source of the bodies. They are all 'sourced' from Chinese universities/research companies. The Chinese companies are supposed to have the same standards as US companies...but if the enforcement for this sort of thing is the same as the enforcement of environmental and safety regulations, I'm a little concerned. If I'd done my homework ahead of time, it certainly would've given me pause. I don't know if I still would have gone or not. I didn't see any hard facts or accusations of wrong-doing though.

But...assuming the providence of the bodies was well managed, I would definitely recommend it.

12:06 AM  

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