Did you know the human foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, and 19 muscles and tendons? It’s a miraculous device that with each and every step coordinates hundreds of minute adjustments just to keep you upright, whether you’re walking down the sidewalk or up the side of a mountain. Even more incredible is the fact that your brain tweaks the operation of your foot continuously from one millisecond to the next. Viewed in that light, running, walking, jumping, even simply standing, all become nothing short of wondrous.

Why be in awe of a foot? To know the answer to that question, it helps to visit one of Gunther von Hagens’ three Body Worlds exhibits now touring the United States.

Walking into Body Worlds, you enter a surreal world where authentic whole-body human specimens are kicking soccer balls, practicing yoga, riding a horse, or contemplating a chess move. Depending on which exhibit you see, you may find a body cut into a dozen cross sections to demonstrate how
the joints fit into the muscles, or a specimen with “drawers” cut out and opened to reveal the body’s density, or even an entire family reduced to nothing more than their blood vessels.

Body Worlds is sensational because the exhibit features real human cadavers, preserved by a unique plastination process created by German anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens, who got the idea for plastination as a student viewing a specimen preserved in a polymer block. He wondered if he could inject the polymer and somehow preserve the specimen from the inside. He’s been perfecting his technique since 1977.

When word gets out that the local museum is hosting an exhibit showcasing actual cadavers, it can be controversial. Before the Denver Museum of Nature and Science brought Body Worlds to town in 2006, curator of human health Bridget Coughlin says the museum consulted an advisory panel to help handle sensitive issues like age appropriateness and how the contents would be presented in the marketing materials. The panel also emphasized the importance of explaining that all the bodies used in the Body Worlds exhibit were willed by donors during their lifetime for exactly that purpose. “That was a process we evaluated even prior to signing the contract to bring the exhibit to Denver,” Coughlin says.

More than 18 million people worldwide have seen Body Worlds. The intricacy and engineering that goes into creating a human being never fails to amaze visitors. Says Body Worlds attendee Patrick Werner, who saw the exhibit last year, “It was a mind-boggling experience — so many different ways to look at the human body.”

UPCOMING BODY WORLDS EXHIBITIONS

Body Worlds in Dallas
December 9, 2006 – May 28, 2007
Museum of Nature & Science
3535 Grand Ave. and 1318 S. 2nd Ave.
Dallas, TX 75315
www.natureandscience.org

Body Worlds 2 in Chicago
January – April 29, 2007
Museum of Science & Industry
57th Street & Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60637-2093
www.msichicago.org

Body Worlds 3 in Phoenix
January 26 – May 27, 2007
Arizona Science Center
600 East Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85004
www.azscience.org

Body Worlds 2 in Montréal
May 10 – September 16, 2007
The Montréal Science Centre
www.montrealsciencecentre.com