BODIES: The Exhibition

I spent over two hours at the BODIES exhibition in Indianapolis, IN. It was incredibly fun and an absolutely engaging experience for me. As a budding internist I see the outside directly and the inside indirectly all the time, usually working at varying levels of efficiency. The only time I was afforded a direct look at the complex inner workings of human machine was in anatomy class and my surgery rotation. In BODIES they have elegantly displayed all the marvelous pieces of the human structure dissected, bisected, and transected. Insightful parallels were drawn by showing the skeleton mirroring the musculature on the other. The vascular density of a human was revealed robustly (picture) showing aorta, arteries, arterioles, and capillaries with the rest cleaned away. To be honest never before had I truly appreciated why I bleed so easily when I damage the largest and heaviest of human organs, the skin.

I strolled the galleries recalling the names of muscles, nerves, and blood vessels...fairly accurately. I finally saw the pectineus muscle. I was reminded how paper thin the temporal skull really is. I've seen well prepared dissections before, but never been presented with so much detail systemically and physically. This incredible display made me appreciate better how the anatomy functions and why anatomists are so crucial to understanding how the body works. Physicians of any level of training would do well to visit their nearest BODIES exhibit, to learn and to appreciate.

My mother noted that once we get past those scant millimeters of variable melanin density, we all basically look alike. BODIES as an argument against racism.

And no it's not creepy, they're polymerized dead people and there are few things more beautiful than the human body laid bare.