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Feb 4, 2005

"The body is a sacred garment." --Martha Graham

The Plastic Cadaver

Through a blend of macabre, art, and science, the Body Worlds exhibit (now showing at the California Science Center in Los Angeles) has attracted 16 million visitors, worldwide. Dr. Gunther von Hagens’ team is displaying some 200 cadavers they have taken through a process he invented called plastination, by which the fat and water in the donated bodies have been replaced with a polymer. The rigidity and durability of plastinated cadavers allows them to be displayed in manners never before possible, giving laypeople a view of the body once reserved for medical professionals.