Our Body - the Universe Within

I am impressed that I still remembered how to log-in to my blog, it has been that long since I last wrote! 

We had a great vacation to the US, specifically Maine and Vermont.

While in Burlington, VT, we visited a neat little science/nature centre, called ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Centre -- http://www.echovermont.org/index.html -- on Lake Champlain.

They had a fascinating temporary exhibit that I had to go see, called "Our Body -- the Universe Within".  (http://www.echovermont.org/exhibits/ourbody/index.html)  It is an exhibit prepared in partnership with the University of Vermont's School of Medicine.

It was INCREDIBLE.  I saw for myself so many of the body parts we'd learned in anatomy class, that I had just seen in the textbook or on the computer.  And there they were, right in front of my eyes. 

It was astounding.  How I wished we could have had access to something like this display when we were learning our anatomy and physiology classes.  Not even to dissect them ourselves, but just to have access to see them for real. 

I would look at a kidney, for example, and see all the veins in one filled in, and in another kidney, see all the arteries filled in.  And I would think back to renal physiology, and think what complex changes take place in each of the various parts of the one million nephrons found in each kidney.  It was almost overwhelming to see it, as I said, right there in front of me, for real.

It was eerily beautiful.  Dark, sombre lighting, mellow music playing in the background, and the gift that these people gave, so that we could marvel at our inner universe. 

It was a great exhibit, well worth the price of admission.  I even got a 'student discount' when I showed them my university nursing student card -- that has not happened in years (and years!).  I would not recomment children to see it, as it is very graphic, (or easily queasy adults!)