February was a busy month for Science North.
First, the science centre unveiled its re-imagined fourth floor. It was also the month staff was busy preparing the latest exhibit, Body Worlds Rx, a world-renowned exhibit that focuses on contemporary diseases that afflict children and adults and illustrates their causes and effects.
Invited guests, which included students from Lasalle Secondary School, got a sneak peek at the exhibit on Friday, a day before it's official opening. On display are a number of real bodies that have been subjected to the plastination process, a technique that removes the fluids from the body and replaces them with plastics that harden.
The result offers an unprecedented look inside the most sophisticated mechanism in the world, the human body.
The process was invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, of Germany. Specimens on display originate from the Institute for Plastination's body donation program. Currently, there are more than 18,000 people who have willed their body for plastination, with more than 2,000 bodies received for plastination.
Body Worlds Rx compares the difference between healthy bodies and organs to those stricken with disease, with particular emphasis on some of the most common ailments such as back pain, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases like arteriosclerosis and heart infarctions, dementia and more.
Dr. Angelina Whalley, creative and conceptual designer of the Body Worlds exhibitions, said the exhibit is a unique experience all about you.
“Whomever enters this exhibit, it becomes immediately relevant to your personal life, and as you walk through this exhibit, you start to reflect back on your own life and the choices you have made,” Whalley said.
Mankind is largely driven by success, and people are motivated by what they can own and what they want to achieve, she said. People rarely think about what's most important, their health, and Body Worlds does that.
“It allows you to reflect on your own body and your own health,” Whalley said. “Our bodies are the only place we have to live, and what you do to it matters. Many people leave this exhibit with a completely different view of themselves, and often vow not to take their bodies for granted any more – to me, that makes this exhibit a success.”
Lasalle Secondary School students were among the first people to tour the exhibit. Having high school students learning about the effects of disease on the body will only help in the future, she said.
“The younger our audience, the better. They still have their entire lives in front of them, and the earlier they are aware of the treasure their body is, and that they need to treat it better, the better society will be in the long run.”
Body Worlds Rx is at Science North for six months, until Sept. 2. For more information, visit sciencenorth.ca.
