This exhibit is currently showing at the Tropicana Hotel in LV, in London, NYC, Atlanta, and Tampa, FL. It's called BODIES... The Exhibition and you may have already heard about it through news reports of protests or on Discovery Channel. The exhibit is an educational one on the various parts of the human anatomy ? muscular, digestive, nervous, circulatory, reproductive, etc. ? and it uses actual human bodies preserved in such a way as to remain pretty much exactly as it would appear if you were to cut open a live body.

It was a fascinating exhibit, especially for myself for various personal reasons. Aside from hundreds of parts of bodies grouped in themed displays, there are several whole bodies with skin removed and various parts of the anatomy cut out so that you can literally see into the body. Apparently, each exhibit has different bodies, so I saw a basketball player, but if you go to the NYC exhibit, you might see someone playing soccer or conducting. All bodies are posed in "action" shots like that, and there are also dozens of cross-sections of various body parts.

All of the bodies came from China, where they have hundreds of experts in preserving the human body in this special way. All died of natural causes, and I read that they were all homeless with no one to claim them, or had donated their bodies for such a use. One section of the exhibit comes with a warning, in case you don't want to see a fetus or embryo or other actual babies on exhibit. I didn't find the display at all distasteful, and there were a lot of young kids who you might expect to be giggling at a close-up of a person's genitalia, but were really respectful. The whole exhibit was respectful and in good taste, in my opinion.

My favorite part of the exhibit was on the circulatory system because of the way that they were able to perfectly preserve those tiny vessels and remove all other parts of the body. I also really liked seeing the way that the muscles work; that will certainly be on my mind the next time I'm hitting the gym! There's also a display dedicated to disease that was pretty interesting, with a special place to throw away your cigarettes after viewing a smoker's lung and heart!

There's a link to the exhibit below, and I highly recommend that you watch the short videos available to get a real idea of what you would be seeing. Oh, and NV residents get a discount at the Tropicana exhibit, so be sure to show your ID and save $3.

Bettie