Region’s First-ever Body Worlds Exhibition Opens At Khalifa University

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 10th Sep, 2019) The region’s first-ever Body Worlds Exhibition - a traveling exposition of dissected and ‘plastinated’ human bodies - today opened at the main campus of Khalifa University.

H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court and Chairman of the board of Trustees of Khalifa University, attended the museum's inauguration ceremony. He also attended the 'White Coat Ceremony' that marks the start of Fall 2019 classes for newly enrolled first cohort of students for the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Khalifa University.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of education and Vice Chairman of the Board, as well as number of officials and members of the university's Board of Trustees.

Khalifa University has signed a six-month agreement with Body Worlds to host the exhibition at the campus in Abu Dhabi. The region’s first-of-its-kind exhibition aims to inform visitors about anatomy, physiology, and health by viewing real human bodies that are preserved through plastination. The exposition of dissected human bodies, animals, and other anatomical structures focuses on the human life-cycle, capturing the body at every stage – at its most healthy, as it changes, grows, matures, and finally wanes.

The Body Worlds Exhibition being hosted at Khalifa University is open to students from across schools and universities in the UAE as well as general public.

Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, said, "By bringing the Body Worlds Exhibition to Abu Dhabi, we have demonstrated to the community the extent of learning the students will undergo at Khalifa University’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences.

"The exhibits demonstrate the complexity, resilience, and vulnerability of the human body in distress, stricken by disease or in optimal health. We believe the exhibition will help students in the UAE learn about the marvels of human body and gain insights into human anatomy, its various stages and how adopting a healthier lifestyle positively impacts the body."

The intent of the exhibition is to introduce the visitor to the functions of each human muscle and nerve, while moving or concentrating as is the case with the chess player, as well as the contraction of each muscle and nerve in the back and its extension, with each movement of his hand while moving a heavy stone.

The plastinated body also demonstrates the coordination of a swimmer’s feet, leg muscles and arms with every movement in water, as well as spectacular muscle growth in athletes. The display of dark gray smokers’ lungs damaged by smoking, demonstrates how bad habits damage the body.

The most visited traveling exhibition in the world, ‘Body Worlds: The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies’, was invented in 1977 by the German anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens. The plastination process, which can take up to a year for each body, is a technique or process used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample.