Get An Eyeful At The “Bodies Exhibit” In NYC

On Saturday (November 27, 2010), I took my three 11-year old kids to the “Bodies Exhibit” at the South Street Seaport in the financial district of Manhattan. What an eyeful! The Bodies Exhibit has actual human bodies on display with informative descriptions of the function of every organ and body part. I spent three hours touring the exhibit and it was well worth the trip.

Here’s a sampling of the interesting facts that I learned: If all of the veins in the human body were lined up next to each other, they would extend 60,000 miles! That’s equal to two trips around the world. All of the blood in the body circulates completely through the body once every 60 seconds–that’s a lot of work for the heart.

Quiz for the day: Does the hand or foot have more bones? The hand has 27 bones and the foot has 26 bones.

How does the skeleton reveal the ethnicity of the human? Eye sockets! Africans have circular eye sockets, caucasians have oval eye sockets and orientals have rectangular eye sockets.

How can you tell a male from a female by a skeleton? Their pelvis bones. Males have a narrow opening between the symphis pubis and the sacrum/coccyx, while females have a much larger opening in their pelvis to allow for the birth of babies.

Where are growth plates in the bones of growing children? At the ends of the joint surfaces at the ankle, knee, hip, wrist, elbow and shoulder.

The Bodies Exhibit has been on display at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan for five years and it is a great way to learn about the body. Take the trip–you won’t be disappointed.