Townsend Speaks with MPBN about Human Body Exhibit
The Maine Public Broadcasting Network spoke with Kristy Townsend, a neurobiology professor at the University of Maine, about the “Body Worlds” exhibit that’s set to open in the new Portland Science Center. The exhibit offers visitors the chance to see the interconnectedness of the human body through cadavers that have been treated with plastination, a method of halting decomposition and preserving by replacing bodily fluids with plastics such as silicon rubber, according to the report. “Body Worlds” first appeared in Japan in the late ’90s and has since been displayed in major cities throughout the world to more than 40 million people, making it the most popular exhibition of all time, the report states. “I think the controversy that surrounds the initial plastination experiments is a little unsettling at first, but I actually think the exhibit does a great job of getting people excited about science and about their own bodies,” Townsend said, adding she saw the exhibit in London about seven years ago, and will encourage her students to see it in Maine. “I do think for people interested in a career in medicine, this is maybe one of the first times they can see inside the human body. So I think it’s a great opportunity for pre-med students,” she said.