Has anybody been to body worlds? There some in europe and for the first time they have one in the us in los angeles California. I just want to know what the experience is like because I'm hoping that my boyfriend will take me there soon. For those of you that don't know what it is, it's a museum in California that exhibit real dead bodies on display. The dead bodies were all donated by the people themselves. here's a quote that I read in the newspaper

"A pregnant woman lies on her side with a hand behind her head as if posing for a nude photograph. But her dead body isn't the only thing exposed. Her heart, intestines and 8-month-old fetus are visible as well.

The woman was one of more than 200 people who donated their cadavers for use in "Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies," which makes its U.S. debut Friday at the California Science Center. "

here's the link if you all wanna know more about it.

http://www.koerperwelten.de/en/pages/home.asp

Holy crap! ...is that legal? if so...how!? I mean...what about their families? Wouldnt the bodies be decayed after awhile, or are they kept in air tight rooms or something to prevent decomposition? That's truly creepy, although at the same time...quite fascinating.

It is legal. . it's been going on in europe an asia for years but it just finally started here. lots of people even bring their kids (kids have to be 13 to go) It's pretty cool. i'm excited to go. One little girl thought it was fake and then started crying when her parents told her it was real:P

I have seen it on the tv and it looks really cool
There was also the dead disected body of horse with front legs raised
with another dead dude on it.Personally I think its genius
even though i'm not sadistic minded or anything like that so i think you should
it would be a unique expierience to say the least

everyone that i have read about or talked to about it said that it was a real eye-opener and a really good experience. the only negative comments a person hears is from a person that has never seen it before and just is against it because it makes them feel uncomfortable. they don't even give it a chance.

hmm that's really something. It's like present-day mummification but they use polymer instead of resin and sodium carbonate. Here's a quick link to their Plastination section. http://www.koerperwelten.de/en/pages/plastination.asp

I think this is an excellent example of the post-modern world we live in. Whereas preservation used to be something spiritual and done as a sign of respect, now it is done for science and to some it is seen as disrespectful because the bodies are left "exposed." I can't help but wonder if this post-modern response is empathy for the dead or fear of the progressive nature of science (ie a horror response to seeing dead bodies in a museum because, "Someday I'll be dead and I hope that doesn't happen to me"), because it is in the present collective consciousness to contain and otherwise categorize everything, especially intangable items like death and spirit. No, I take that back, it's not fear of science; it's categorization of death through visual confirmation of it. Viewing death, I suppose in some way, removes the fear and "unknown" of it.

I think people are afraid because if they see a dead body like that, they're going to realize that we're no different than animals. When we die, we're just meat. I mean the last time most people see dead bodies is at a funeral, but the corpse still has a character. at these museums, the person is just a piece of art. well i take that back the corpse (not a person) is just a piece of art. nobody wants to see a person being less than a person because that makes them feel less special.

When you first hear about it, it sounds kind of gross and disgusting but actually I think it's quite interesting to see what our bodies look like, althought I wouldn't want my body to be exposed like that

Sounds like a horror show to me. I don't think I'll be able to take it, will probably have nightmares or something afterwards, but there's nothing like that in the U.S. so I guess there's no chance anyway.