Plastination is a technique of preserving bodies or body parts by replacing the water and fat components by certain plastics, thereby yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample. Plastination was invented by the German anatomist Gunther von Hagens in 1977, and later he founded the Institute of Plastination in Heidelberg in 1993. Dr von Hagens plastinated animals are now on display at an exhibition called “Body Worlds of Animals” at the Cologne Zoo. Preserved camels are shown during the opening of the exhibition Plastination was initially used to preserve small specimens for medical study. It was not until the early nineties that the equipment was developed to make it possible to plastinate whole body specimens. The first exhibition of whole bodies was held in Japan in 1995. Over the next two years, Von Hagens developed the Body Worlds exhibition, showing whole bodies plastinated in lifelike poses and dissec...
Five of the nine bears lost body mass over the span of eight to 11 days because they were not catching enough prey to match their energy demands. Polar bears are now forced to travel greater distances to catch their main meal, young seals MIAMI: Polar bears are struggling to find enough seals to eat, and the problem will get worse as the planet warms because their metabolisms are much faster than previously thought, researchers said Thursday. The report in the journal Science tracked nine female polar bears in the Arctic's Beaufort Sea during the spring, which is usually prime feeding season. They found that polar bear metabolism is 1.6 times higher than prior estimates. Five of the nine bears lost body mass over the span of eight to 11 days because they were not catching enough prey to match their energy demands. "Four of the bears lost 10 percent or more of their body mass," said the report. "One bear lost not only her fat reserves, but lean muscle as well....