* Did you know that laughing or coughing puts more pressure on your spine than standing or walking? *

Last weekend I visited the Body Worlds exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry here in Chicago. The visit was part of a research project my daughter was doing, but the museum sure has gone high-tech since my last visit 15 years ago. The Body Worlds exhibit features more than 200 authentic human specimens in lifelike poses and includes entire bodies as well as organs and transparent cross-sections.

* Did you know that a brain puts out electrical waves up to 37 hours after death? *

For centuries Egyptians tried to preserve bodies, while scientists and medical research have tried to see inside the human body. In 1977, Dr. Gunther von Hagens developed a process called "plastination" that preserves the body with special plastics and lets you view multiple layers and systems under the skin. In another process, slices of the body were sealed in hard plastic for a cross-section display of body systems. It takes 1,500 hours to convert a cadaver into a full body plastinate.

According to the literature, the bodies in the exhibition were donated for this educational purpose. Bodies are posed in a variety of activities to show the position of the muscles, circulatory and neurological systems. In display cases, healthy organs are shown next to diseased specimens. Thanks to plastination, visitors can see a normal size heart's aorta, veins and capillaries and compare it to an enlarged heart. To better understand congestive heart failure, you can also look at a smooth aorta in contrast to one hardened with atherosclerosis.

* Your stomach produces a new lining every three days to avoid digesting itself in its own production of acid. *

Medical volunteers are on hand to answer questions and to point out special features, like a plastinated lobe of a lung. If you squeezed it, you could feel a little whoosh of air. (It seemed disrespectful!)

Next to the tan healthy lung was a black smoker's lung. The information stated that even quitting cigarettes for a day would start a healing process for a smoker's lungs.

I thought I would be more grossed out by this exhibit. It was so well done and so educational that it was fascinating. It was interesting to see how quiet and respectful visitors to the exhibit were. To see actual body parts with diseases that we hear about and can't quite comprehend has a strong preventive effect. Looking at cross-sections of aneurysms, tumors and Alzheimer's helps visualize disease.

The Life Safety Initiatives' push for health and safety is not the magical cure for reducing firefighter fatalities. Firefighters see more death and injury than just about anyone. But there was something about looking at the enlarged aorta, the black lung and the cloudy inches of fat that made me want to head back to the health club and eat salads.

We can and do have an impact on our own health and wellness.

Janet Wilmoth, Editor