The Subject Is Woman, Uncovered.

Art & Science in Human Anatomical Studies.

If there are no cadavers for anatomy classes, what could be a beautiful alternative for studying the complex structures of the human body?

Combine art and science. Let the students be models and artists; let them explore every part of the body with their fingers and then paint them on the skin as close to reality as possible like that in  the front page cover of the Diario de Natal above.  The story feature in the inside pages had a picture of a a pregnant belly being painted on with the representation of the fetus.

This education tool is being used in the Natal Faculty Development in Rio Grande do Norte (FARN) in Brazil.

The city of Natal is a major tourist mecca in the state of Rio Grande de Norte, and we are surprised that there is a lack of cadavers for anatomy classes in the FARN.  The report says a technique for painting on the human body has been successfully developed that a Center for the Study of Artistic Anatomy was set up four years ago.

We wonder if this mixture of art and science in anatomy studies has attracted more students to take up medicine and other health-related courses.  Painting on live models (themselves) certainly is more attractive than dissecting cold cadavers and tinkering with body parts and organs.

The last reminds us of the Bodies Exhibition we saw in New York two years ago, and which opened somewhere in Metro Manila recently.  This had several bodies, organs and organ systems that seemed reproductions in wax or plastic; these were cadavers preserved using a process called polymer preservation.

We remember that most of the bodies were male except those in the reproductive and urinary system exhibit area, which also showed placentas, embryos and fetuses to illustrate embryonic and fetal development.

But then again, if there are no cadavers, why think about polymer preservation? There's artistic anatomy, an old art form evidenced by the works of Michaelangelo such as those up the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

The front page cover below with the portrait of Lien van de Kilder, a TV/movie personality, in the Belgian paper Het Nieuwsblad has something to do with women's bosoms or breasts.  The story is titled "Ode to My Bosom" featuring 12 popular Belgian women talking about their breasts. 

"Ode to My Bosom"

A blogger commented that this weekend supplement of the Het was much more sensous than the average cover of Flemish men's magazines.  We understand it was a big hit at the newsstands.