Our Body: The Universe Within

I don’t really have any complaints about this place, granted I don’t have anything to compare it to. It was the first «body» exhibit I have ever been to and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The general public doesn’t ordinarily get the chance to see the insides of a human body and this museum gives you that chance. I recently completed two semesters of anatomy and physiology, so it was fascinating to see organs that weren’t preserved in a jar or shown through pictures.
If you don’t have a general understanding or aren’t interested in the human body, then this is not the museum for you.

1.5 Stars
Note: This is not the part of the BODIES exhibit touring the country.
This exhibit is much smaller and, in my opinion, very sloppily done. The bodies on display are preserved via embalming and polymer impregnation where all bodily fluids are replaced with a hardening polymer solution. This is supposed to leave the a durable specimen behind, ready for examination and viewing — but this wasn’t the case for many of the models. This process does very little to protect and preserve the delicate systems of arteries and veins winding through the body; in many cases, they were just left dangling or had fallen off in clumps. However, I will concede that the models of the individual systems (these have been removed from the body and are solitary displays of their own) themselves are fascinating to look at and are a testament to the beauty of the human body.
The bodies themselves weren’t in all to great conditions either — all were covered in dust and a few others were covered in mold. Let me reiterate: MOLD. It’s not only disrespectful to the individual in the case, it’s also extremely unhygienic. The poor lighting in the whole place may have been intentional just to hide these unsanitary conditions.
The way that many of the displays are modeled, cut, and treated are also a little more than disturbing. As crass as this sounds, it looks like many of these people were butchered after death and during preservation — judging by the cut marks and flaying patterns. There was a specimen in particular that really disturbed me; he was supposed to represent a partial dissection, but they literally cut him into stripes. Not strips, stripes — down to the bone. That seemed exceedingly pointless and inefficient to me personally because it doesn’t necessarily showcase the human body in the most scientific and informational manner. I would understand otherwise, but this just seemed needlessly macabre. These people have provided us a window into the fascinating world of human anatomy; they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. As mentioned in Leah’s review, one woman was placed faced-​down to display the inner workings of her sinus system.
Overall, it looked like they tried to provide a wide array of body parts and sections for us to see — including various organs, diseased and healthy, and arterial and venous structures. Many of the individuals were Chinese (as confirmed by their website) and males of all ages; a few females and children as well. They had a whole room dedicated the reproductive system that also had a Prenatal Exhibit. They provided warnings to visitors that it may be disturbing; however, the only thing I found disturbing was that most of these were female children (and knowing that most of these were of Chinese origin, it had negative implications to me).
We paid using a Groupon, which made this one-​time visit tolerable, but it’s definitely not worth the full price of admission. Never again. I gave them an additional half star because the girl at the counter were friendly and agreed to switch out my friend’s CSI Experience Groupon for an Our Body Groupon without any trouble.

Let me start out this review by saying how embarrassed I am for whomever runs this exhibit. As a Forensic Anthropology student, we are taught not only the function and purpose of each part of the body, but the way that the dead deserve to be treated. This exhibit displayed everything you could possibly do wrong with a body that someone supposedly donated to science.
The first exhibit which shows a man in slices from head to toe was MOLDY. Their process, which is a mockery of plastination, supposedly occurs after the body was embalmed– which is why many of the examples appear desiccated. When a sample starts to degrade in this way, it is a hazard and should be retreated or removed from display.
Many of the displays which were meant to show the beauty of the human vascular system were broken, and I mean huge chunks had fallen off either into the display case– or some had apparently been removed as you could see from the image of how the display looked first (an image of the displayed portion is posted next to each specimen with labels).
The bodies which were not in cases were covered in dust and dirt, which I feel is so disrespectful. These are set out for display of the beauty of the human body, and here sit these filthy souls on display until they fall apart.
Now, the displays themselves are obviously not done by anyone who has any knowledge of the body, or who knows what an anatomical display should look like.
The «partial dissection» pieces were like strips of meat left in alternating layers of
skin and no skin from head to toe, and again covered in dust.
Slices showing the sinuses were done using the wrong portion of the skull and then the specimen was placed face down– again grossly disrespectful.
This part of my review comes from what we discussed in one of my classes, and that is that the scientific community believe that these bodies were not donated but were slaves who were killed, preserved, and then sold as display items. Also, we all know that these are most likely Chinese in origin, so please take note that ALL of the infants with visible genitalia were female.
To sum it up, I am disgusted and sorry that I paid money to see this. I am embarrassed for myself and for these poor souls whose bodies are not treated as the beautiful creations that they are.

First heard about this exhibit on NPR several years ago. I found it fascinating and well worth the time spent. Staff are friendly and helpful. we were fortunate enough to speak with a staff member that was, he thought, particularly knowledgeable about the accident. They did not allow photographs.

This is getting the A-​OK mainly because if you are to enjoy this «experience», it is mostly up to YOU. I find that museums, art galleries and the such are like that. 80% what you (can) make of it.
This exhibit is no exception. (Thank you for the Groupon pricing point)
We found the employees to be friendly, but 95% dumb about any details in regards to the exhibit’s.
No doubt the polymer process used for preservation is incredible, being able to preserve and display extremely complex systems and structures, you’ll see the vast networks in 3D unlike the drawings you may only be familiar with.
Many of the displays feature specific systems and some «components» like the spinal cord, are parsed out and displayed à la carte. You may find yourself thinking it is a sheer wonder-​my back does not bother me ALL the time really, as complex, fragile and mobile all those parts must mesh in harmony.
Aside from the total uniqueness of the exhibits, the lighting can be a challenge on some displays. Artsey-​fartsy yes, but sometimes a few more lumens are needed to allow you to extract a better visual of the display– thank you. One display the back side information board is simply in the dark. (burnt out bulb in the ceiling?) The buildings windows are blacked out so only the spot lighting is utilized 100%.
Sorry (for some of you), but the male physique is by far dominate in the exhibit — yes complete with all the dang «dangles» and things. Only one female upper torso and no feminine full body is displayed out of maybe 10 or so «polo players» and one basketball «dribbler». Couple interesting female parts are found in separate displays, along side more of the same olé male «junk».
They make quite a big deal out of the Prenatal area –WARNING — May be too intense! or some shit like that, but hey, if you get this far into the exhibit, I doubt those displays will be found to be any more «disturbing» than the rest.
I walked away from there with an even greater awe of our bodies and how fortunate we are to pull off good health any day. So many complex systems that have to mesh and harmonize to function properly! Incredible too that so many are borne every day, so near perfect physically, it’s near mystical.
My advice– Just eat before you go to this place unless you were already thinking of having a Greek salad or some other meat-​less entrée afterward. We actually took an hour getting through. Okay return for $ 12 Groupon deal.

The one in New York is WAYYY better.

I feel like when this was presented at MOSI around 2005– give or take– it was far larger? More displays? Does anymore else know what I’m talking about? I remember being able to handle a brian. Said Brain was not wet and slimmy or anything, but was covered in poxi or something.
Anyways, It’s small and. is what it is? It’s interesting for those interested in Biology or really any other scientific discipline, but If you have been once before elsewhere, no real need to come back.
The staff is about as rude as they come and other guests take photos (most of whom because of location do not speak english) which pesters me. This is just best set in a place of science, where people come to be engulfed in the experience, instead of the tackiness of I-​drive.

Horrible, looks closed from outside, not the real exhibit touring around the US.