Dancing Around In Your Bones with the Scientific Community of Philadelphia

Here's a new twist on Halloween for you!

The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia is hosting an amazing exhibit, where scientist Gunther von Hagen displays the human form in a very creative way: by plastination of cadavers. It's called Body Worlds. The homepage reminds me of a Tom Waits song, "Come on in, It ain't no sin - Take off your skin and Dance around in your bones..."

The website says (The following text and photos are from the Franklin Institute's Website): Throughout the ages, medical scholars and students have strived to understand how our bodies function through exploration of real human specimens. BODY WORLDS, one of the most highly attended touring exhibitions in the world, takes this tradition one step further by presenting a new look at the human body. The exhibition features more than 200 authentic human specimens, including entire bodies, individual organs and transparent body slices that have been preserved through the process of "plastination," a technique that replaces bodily fluids and fat with plastic"

Here's the process:

Here's a photo of a human heart, as under the plastination process.

(I wanted to put the photo of the swimmer up, but I was afraid I might upset any queasy readers I might have.) Enjoy - I think I'm going to try to make it to this one... and Maybe the Mutter Museum.