xc - COTD3. Go to the "Bodies Exhibit"

After attending the BODIES exhibit at the South Street Seaport, I feel that I have a much greater appreciation of how lucky I am that I was born a human as opposed to any other creature on this earth. The trillions of tasks that occur each second can be mind- numbing (literally and figuratively). Specific parts of the exhibit that will stick with me are:
- Musculature. The skeletons with layers of muscles dribbling a basketball or
throwing a football
- Respiratory system. The section on lungs indicating that after smoking 1 pack of cigarettes, your life decreases by 3 hours and 40 minutes. There is actually a see- through container next to the exhibit where smokers are urged to chuck their cigarettes (already a foot high).
- Birth. Containers of week by week fetuses during the 9 month pregnancy showing the development of the skeleton for example
- Reaction speed. Skeleton throwing a baseball with statement that A-Rod has .458 seconds to identify the trajectory of a 90mph fastball and whether or not to swing.
- Sleep. Purpose may be so that we can process the day’s events and preserve long-term memories.
- Healing. Drugs soon to be tailored to our own specific genetic code. Stem cell research is helping us understand how the body heals itself and changing the way we think about fighting disease.

The controversy about the exhibit has to do with the fact that the bodies are all Chinese, and no one knows for certain how they died. The Chinese government says they were all unclaimed bodies, but this government locks people up and worse if they criticize it. I talked to one of the two doctors who were there to show visitors how to use machines to find out their blood pressure (118/58 for me) and body mass index (22.6 for me). He told me that the bodies belonged to the Dalian Medical University in China and would be returned there after the exhibit. He also said that the U.S. government does terrible things like the torture under the Bush administration, and that these bodies are at least being used for important teaching purposes.

I read that some people call the German scientist, Gunther von Hagens, who is responsible for the preservation of these bodies Dr. Frankenstein and think it is terrible that visitors go to “gawk” at them. This is ridiculous in my opinion. These bodies may be from individuals but they are now not individualized. They are all of us. They are me underneath, and they are fascinating because of the amazing way our bodies are put together and all the systems work. I learned a lot from this exhibit. Seeing diseased organs is upsetting, but having such dramatic evidence about what exercise and good health habits can help you avoid is a good thing.

This was a great extra credit assignment. I think everyone in the class would get a lot out of this exhibit.