Bodies in Vegas

I don’t like gambling. I don’t drink much. I’m asthmatic. Needless to say, Vegas casinos are not my favorite place. But here we were, trudging through the maze of slot machines and tchotchke vendors to get to the convention center of the Tropicana. Despite minimal signage, we managed to find our goal in time for opening day: Bodies – The Exhibition.

Aside from a steep entrance fee ($26), I can’t recommend the exhibit more. I spent several hours there, completely fascinated. Most of the exhibit consists of bodies that have had all water replaced with silicone. To do this, they place a body in acetone to remove all water, then move the body into a silicone bath and introduce a vacuum. The acetone leaves as a gas, and is replaced with silicone. After the silicone is cured, you have a preserved body that will never rot.

Most bodies had muscles or organs removed or rearranged to better focus on a particular system – skeletal, muscle, nervous, etc. Most of the bodies were not encased in glass, and very accessible to the viewer. You could stick your head in a rib cage to get a better look at something, as long as you weren’t touching anything. But the coolest thing about it was that the bodies were so, well, real. Aside from a slight plastic sheen, it was as if you just peeled the skin off someone and put them on a stand. One could see exactly how muscles fit together. How one group reinforced another, or in the case of the chest cavity, separated itself from the other systems.

Other bodies had acrylics injected into their blood systems, then the body was chemically removed, leaving the delicate lace maze of our blood systems completely intact. Presented in bright colors in a darkened room, they resembled beautiful and rare corals – that just happened to resemble a lung or a leg.

Other bodies were thinly sliced and placed between glass panes. I’d seen some of this technique before, but never a full body, or this many separate exhibits. It was fascinating, but I couldn’t help but think we resemble prosciutto ham.

Intrigued by the asian features on many of the exhibits, I asked some staff where the bodies came from. I was told most of the specimens are from Chinese medicals schools. Most of the bodies were male, young, and in shape. Puzzled, I pressed for a little more information. I was told most of the bodies were “unclaimed”, and died of natural causes. China is a big country, and could easily find specimens, but a little part of me worries that they don’t have the best reputation when it comes to tissue sources.

Parts of the exhibit made me a little queasy, but I was too fascinated to stop looking. Ultimately it made me even more motivated to continue working out and eating healthy. While resilient, the body relies on a lot of different systems. It can only make my life better to make sure everything is working properly.