After 5: Our Body – The Universe Within is a day's drive away

For those who missed the unique display of scientifically preserved human bodies in Branson last year, a similar opportunity arrives this month across the Arkansas state line. The main difference is the exhibit organizers.

The Universe Within Touring Co. LLC, of Baltimore, is delivering the polymer-impregnated bodies to Hot Springs, while Premier Exhibitions, of Atlanta, brought similar specimens to Branson.

The Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Ark., presents Our Body: The Universe Within June 14–Sept. 28. The Hot Springs museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian.

Under the skin

Our Body: The Universe Within is a collection of polymer-preserved human bodies, organs and partial specimens that takes viewers “under the skin” to expose the intricacies of the human system. The impregnation process replaces bodily fluids with polymers that prevent decay and decomposition, and produces rubberized specimens that are detailed, dry, odorless and nontoxic.

“It’s a fascinating look into how our bodies work and how our actions influence our bodies – a journey only doctors and scientists normally get to take,” says Andy Marquart, the museum’s executive director, who spent four years at Springfield’s Discovery Center before taking the Mid-America Science Museum job in January. “The human forms are presented in a way to inspire people to want to take care of their body.”

Perhaps most inspiring is the comparison of a smoker’s lung to a healthy lung, Marquart notes. Many of the exhibit’s whole-body specimens – there are about 200 in all – are displayed in everyday and athletic poses, such as kicking a soccer ball and holding a baby.

Marquart says education is the foremost purpose of securing the exhibit.

Hot topic

The Universe Within is among the big three human body preservation exhibits – the others are Bodies … The Exhibition and Body Worlds – touring the country. While each group touts the scientific and educational benefits of its works, controversy often follows them.

The largest recent uproar was an ABC “20/20” report with the lead source being an insider purchaser of such bodies. The anonymous source told ABC News that some of the bodies were bought on the Chinese black market for $200 to $300 apiece, resulting in Premiere Exhibitions being subpoenaed by the New York attorney general.

The Universe Within seems to have distanced itself from the debate, providing museums such as Exploration Place in Wichita, Kan. – where the exhibit arrived May 24 – with documentation that their bodies were signed over for scientific purposes.

Marquart says he, too, received documentation from Premiere, which brokered this exhibit.

“They supplied us with an affidavit from a coroner in Pennsylvania, who found no trauma in the bodies,” he adds, then points to a statement from Hong Kong’s Anatomical Sciences & Technologies Foundation, which owns the specimens, that the bodies are from willing donors and requires Premiere to display them only for educational purposes.

The statement, which was issued to the museum April 17, says the bodies will return to China’s Museum of Life Sciences.

The exhibit’s Web site, www.ourbodytheuniversewithin.com, acknowledges other preserved-bodies displays, but gives little distinction to The Universe Within. It does denote various interactive displays, including MicroWorld, in which visitors can take microscopic study of the intricate beauty of human cell structures and tissues.

Marquart says half of his marketing budget for the exhibit is dedicated to educational uses, and he’s targeting the medical field.

Arkansas doctors will be on hand to lead audiences through various programs.

“This particular one focuses on health … and how to take care of your body,” he says.

Museum officials expect 80,000 to 100,000 visitors during the three-month stint, which would double the annual average attendance.

Our Body: The Universe Within

What: Polymer-preserved bodies for an “under the skin” look at human anatomy

Where: Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Ark.

When: June 14–Sept. 28

Cost: $16 for museum members; $21 for adults; $17 for youth; and $14 a person for groups of 15

More information: (800) 632-0583; www.ourbodytheuniversewithin.com and www.midamericamuseum.org.

Day Trip

Hot Springs is a nearly five-hour drive from Springfield, heading south on U.S. Highway 65 through Little Rock. For those concerned about travel costs, Missouri State University travel expert Dimitri Ioannides encourages consumers to continue their travel plans despite tight budgets, and he offers several cost-cutting tips.

The 57,000-square-foot museum, home to more than 100 hands-on exhibits, is located in historic Hot Springs National Park. Other points of interest: Oaklawn Park horse racing, downtown’s bath house row, Garvan Woodland Gardens and Magic Springs theme park; for more go to www.hotsprings.org.