AP Biology and Anatomy classes of Chapin High visited the Body Worlds VITAL exhibit at the state museum on November 14 as part of a field trip organized by science teacher Lori Latham. This exhibit was designed to show visitors the contrasts of how a healthy lifestyle and a non- healthy lifestyle can affect a person’s body. This Body Worlds exhibit is the latest chapter in the “human saga project” that was founded by anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens.
All of the bodies in the project were donated by people who wanted to assist the project and science by participating in the HUMAN SAGA project.
Body World’s mission is to educate the public about health and anatomy.
“Body Worlds helped give me a 3D visual of the human anatomy that we study in the class,” said junior Dillion Gums who went on the field trip.
Students were able to do things like compare the lungs of a smoker to the lungs of a non-smoker to learn the contrast of a healthy life versus a non-healthy lifestyle.
Senior Brandon Owens said, “It was very educational I learned a lot.”
In this exhibit, the bodies are stripped of their skin and the muscles are preserved in plastic using the process known as plastination.
Then the bodies are put in everyday positions such as throwing a baseball or dribbling a basketball so that visitors can have a better view of what goes on inside the human body.