By Brad Hundt, Staff writer

bhundt@observer-reporter.com

PITTSBURGH - A brain can seem surprisingly small and unexceptional when it's cut loose from the cranium and you can hold it in your hands.

All of the folds and creases that we see in illustrations and models are all there. But there's no way of knowing what thoughts once bounced around in that collection of gray and white matter, just as there's no way of knowing if the cadaver nearby that's been bent and twisted so it looks like a soccer player ever kicked a soccer ball when blood was coursing through its legs.

Both the preserved brain and the athlete-in-the-after-life are part of "Bodies ... The Exhibition," the traveling exhibit that's brought hordes of people through the turnstiles and generated contentious debate and controversy. Proponents of the exhibit, which uses chemically-treated and dissected corpses to show how bodily systems function, say it's a unique opportunity to peer into the human body and see how the wheels turn in it; detractors contend it's a vulgar freak show that exploits the dead and quite possibly profits from Chinese human rights abuses.

In recent days, both sides have been sharpening their talking points and preparing for battle as "Bodies...The Exhibition" begins a seven-month run at the Carnegie Science Center. Fifteen preserved bodies and an array of organs, fetuses and body parts will be displayed in a specially-designed section of the Science Center's SportsWorks complex. Today and Saturday, the exhibit is open exclusively to members of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and opens to the general public on Monday.

A separate, timed-ticket is required to see the exhibit, which will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. They went on sale Sept. 6 and Science Center spokesman Mike Marcus said last week that tickets were still available for the exhibit's opening days.

At a press launch for "Bodies" last month, Science Center director Joanna Haas insisted it will "intellectually and emotionally engage" audiences about the human body and spark interest in anatomy and biotechnology. Haas also said the exhibit stirred up what she described as "hyperbole and speculation" and "emotional and exaggerated responses to its content." She noted that the Science Center had been working with an advisory committee which included medical professionals, regional science instructors and ethicists to explore the moral, legal and ethical issues surrounding "Bodies," and they gave it a passing grade.

Roy Glover, chief medical advisor for "Bodies" and an emeritus professor of anatomy and cell biology at the University of Michigan, described "Bodies" as "an educationally rich, museum-quality exhibit" and it provides "a look at yourself that you never thought imaginable."

"You'll be amazed at how you look beneath your skin," he added.

The bodies - or "specimens" as they are called by the exhibit's creators -- have been preserved through a process called plastination developed in Germany in the 1970s by Dr. Gunther von Hagens. Initially, von Hagens devised the process so medical schools could preserve bodies indefinitely for research.

Through plastination, all the water is drained from the body and replaced with the chemical acetone, which is used in nail polish removers and automotive fuel additives. The body is then bathed in a liquid silicone mixture and placed in a vacuum chamber. Under these conditions, acetone becomes gas. The gas is replaced by a polymer mix and is hardened. Decomposition stops and each body should last indefinitely.

Von Hagens, who has carried out televised autopsies and is always seen publicly wearing a black fedora, patented plastination and decided to use it to develop the "Body Worlds" exhibit in 1995. At first, it was billed as an art show and featured bodies in an assortment of lifelike poses - one cadaver was praying, with his heart in his hands, and another was "riding" the plastinated remains of a horse. An erotic version staged in Hamburg, Germany in 2003 contained a cadaver with an erection.

"Body Worlds" has spawned sequels and copy-cat exhibits, such as "Our Body: The Universe Within," which is currently at science centers in Detroit, Orlando, Fla., and Rochester, N.Y., and "The Amazing Human Body," now on display in Melbourne, Australia.

The cadavers in "Bodies ... The Exhibition" were prepared by Dr. Sui Hongjin, a former associate of von Hagens, and is being presented by Premier Exhibitions, an Atlanta-based, publicly-traded company that also has staged a blockbuster traveling exhibit of Titanic artifacts which stopped at the Science Center in 2004 and 2005.

Premier has launched several touring versions of "Bodies," and also handles another cadaver exhibit, "Bodies Revealed." All of them, along with the Titanic exhibit, could accurately be described as "edutainment," which combines learning with showmanship. Glover has stressed that seeing "Bodies" will help people make healthy lifestyle choices, once they get an up-close look at, say, a cancer-scarred lung or a liver damaged by excessive alcohol use.

"People are undereducated when it comes to their own bodies," Glover said. "Explain to me why people continue to put cigarette smoke in their lungs? Why do they eat the diet they do? You'll be amazed at how complex and beautiful your body really is."

The Carnegie Science Center is only the second science center in the nation to host "Bodies ... The Exhibition"; the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Fla., put on the exhibit from August 2005 to September 2006. Elaine Catz, who was education coordinator at the Carnegie Science Center for 11 years, resigned in protest in June over the "Bodies" exhibit.

She objected to the exhibit on religious grounds - Catz is Jewish, and, she explained, Jewish custom forbids the display or embalming of corpses, or making a profit from them.

Beyond that, however, Catz believes there is not enough documentation about the origin of the cadavers, and they could be political prisoners executed by the Chinese government.

"I couldn't stay quiet about that," Catz said. "There are many, many questionable things going on."

Premier Exhibitions reportedly paid $25 million to the Dalian Medical University in Dalian, China, for use of the bodies, and they maintain the bodies will be returned to China when the exhibits end and be cremated. An investigation by The New York Times in 2006 found there was little documentation regarding the origin of the cadavers used by exhibitors, and the suppliers were operating with little government oversight.

Catz went on to decry the "carnival atmosphere" that surrounds "Bodies," and is skeptical about its educational value.

"Roadkill is educational too," she said. "(Premier Exhibitions') goal is not helping people make healthy lifestyle choices. Their goal is to make as much profit as possible."

And it's the provenance of the bodies that raises the most troubling ethical questions about "Bodies" according to Alan Meisel, a professor of bioethics and law at the University of Pittsburgh.

"I think the burden is on the Science Center to establish that those requirements have been met," he said. "And I don't think they've been met. I think they've been a little glib about it."

Glover has stressed that all the bodies were unclaimed, they died of natural causes and "we have taken every possible precaution to make sure the bodies are exhibited in a dignified and respectful way."

"It would be wonderful if we had documents for all of these bodies indicating that they gave their permission for an exhibition like this ... We wanted to be very, very thorough that we obeyed all of the laws that govern how the bodies were obtained."

The exhibit also has received the blessing of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, who said in a statement that it's "an extraordinary visual presentation of the dignity and miracle of human creation," and Bruce Dixon, the director of the Allegheny County Health Department. He called it "a learning laboratory for healthy living" and "a must for everyone."

Peter Frischmann, a Peters Township resident and science teacher at Winchester Thurston School in Shadyside, was on the "Bodies" advisory committee and saw the exhibit in Tampa in May 2006. "The more you see of it, the more amazing it becomes," he explained.

"It's an amazing educational opportunity."

As for the origin of the bodies, Frischmann pointed out that "you can't check everything out personally."

"They came from a university, and it is a World Health Organization facility."

An exhibit like "Bodies" is not without historical precedent - most 19th century medical schools would operate anatomical museums and, in the years after the Civil War, popular anatomical museums flourished in the entertainment districts of most major U.S. cities, mixing the educational and the sensational. Brains would float in formaldehyde jars, displays focused on venereal disease and other maladies, and, sometimes, a preserved body would be shown.

"Bodies" is expected to attract 300,000 visitors to the Science Center during its run, Marcus said. An assortment of related events and lectures also will be happening in conjunction with "Bodies."

"When we leave the city," Glover explained, "We want it to be a healthier place than when we arrived."

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