wonder if this is gonna make it to the east coast any time soon..
Is plastination what Damien Hirst used for his piggy works?

Gunther
von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibit, described as the anatomical exhibition
of real human bodies, opened for the first time in the U.S. July 2 at
the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

It includes 25 human cadavers that have been preserved through plastination, a technique invented by Hagens at the Institute for Anatomy at Heidelberg University in 1978.

Various
plastics are used to replace body fluids and fats in the body, allowing
muscles, bones and organs to be visible. Included in the exhibitions
are damaged organs, which demonstrate the effects of disease.

The
aim of the exhibit is to allow laymen to appreciate and understand the
body's anatomy and function. It includes information about the nervous,
digestive, skeletal and circulatory systems.

The exhibit first debuted in Tokyo in 1996, and has since traveled through Asia and Europe, where it has instigated controversy.

Exhibit's most controversial display: the body of a woman who died while eight months pregnant, with her unborn fetus exposed.
NPR has a decent article/galery

More information about the exhibition can be found at www.bodyworlds.com.

California Science Center

even more info - news.google