Anatomy students and teacher consists of, back, l to r: Carrie Weber, Bridgette Moore, Matt Armstrong, Madison Dawley, Emily Long, Alexis Ferguson, Kendra Cranston, Destiny Romberg, Shena Bryan, Andrea Ferrington, Natalie Kirton and Morgan Sanders.
by Natalie Kirton
One student peers at the villi in a large intestine. Another notices the differences between a healthy lung and a smoker’s lung. A third studies an enlarged ovary. These different specimens are on display at the Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines (SCI).
On Tuesday, September 13, the Anatomy classes traveled to tour the Body Worlds Vital exhibit at SCI.
Inside, were actual specimens of the human body, preserved through a process called plastination. Plastination occurs when the natural fluids of the body are replaced with a polymer solution to enhance preservation.
The entire exhibit took roughly two hours to go through, and students were able to view everything from the different parts of the brain to an actual body.
“One of the most interesting things I learned was that we have 60,000 miles of capillaries, veins and arteries in our bodies. That’s enough to stretch across the world at least two times,” said senior Destiny Romberg.
Students were also able to compare the amount of fat on a healthy person to the amount of fat on an obese person by looking at slices of the body.
After everyone was through the exhibit, students were allowed to view other parts of the science center before gathering in the gift shop.
Chaperone Nancy Gray and teacher Carrie Weber then drove students to share a meal at Applebee’s before returning to school.
Senior Kendra Cranston was glad to have been able to go on the tour because she “liked seeing a real version of what our body is supposed to look like”.
The Body Worlds Vital exhibit will be at the Science Center of Iowa until October 31, and cost of general admission is $19.25 for adults and $13.50 for children.
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