The Evolution of Anti-"Bodies"

Scientific exhibits using real human bodies as models have met with criticism before—in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, for example—but there's a different note in the reaction to the Body Worlds exhibit set to open June 13 in Edmonton, Alberta. Unlike the archbishop of Cincinnati, who nixed plans of Catholic schools in his diocese to see a similar exhibit, Edmonton's Archbishop Richard Smith has struck a somewhat more conciliatory note. While Smith stressed that these bodies "are not just an object to be gawked at as an object of curiosity, but to be honored," his archdiocese isn't telling parishioners not to visit the exhibit, and students in local Catholic schools may even see it on a field trip—provided they receive parental permission. —Dan Messier