Week 4: Medtech and Art

At first glance medical technology and art is irrelevant to each other, but I am totally impressed by influence of medical technology on art after viewing this week’s video lecture, in which Professor Vesna talks about impact from medical technology such as anatomy, plastic surgery, X-ray and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).  

 Last week’s topic tells us that humans can produce complex robots and machines. But we haven’t realized that the human body itself is one of the most complex machines in this world. For instance, you need more than 200 muscles to work together in order to walk one step and this is more complicated than many machines. Medical technology gives us more chances to explore our complex body structure. For example, long time ago people could only use dissection to see our body structure, but now some advanced technology such as X rays and MRI enable people to see themselves clearly without dissection or surgery. Both of them are safer and more efficient for medical examination.

Medical technology is  close to our lives because it not only helps us for medical examination but also helps people to pursue beauty. People can use X rays or other medical devices to exam their body fat percentage and distribution so that they can track their fitness result and have a more precise view of their own bodies. And plastic surgery is a more direct way to alter what you look like. From lecture we know plastic surgery is created by Indian to treat severe injuries in war. Nowadays more and more people are willing to take plastic surgery to become more beautiful even though it's still controversial that if people should change their appearance by plastic surgery.

In addition to improving people's lives, medical technology can also create artistic beauty. Body World, the anatomical exhibition of real human body, perfectly combines the medical technology with art. Body World is created by Gunther von Hagens who is an anatomist and the inventor of Plastination. Plastination is a technique that replaces body water and fat by certain kinds of plastic, making human body to retain most properties of original sample after death. Body World not only shows us the anatomical beauty of the human body but also gives people an opportunity to better understand how it functions and what our anatomical structures are.

 Medical technology is related to art like many other scientific fields. I believe with further development of medical technology, the connection between them will get closer and closer.

Work Cited

Vesna, Victoria. Unit 4 Lecture Medtech+Art. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk> 

Bassanese, Paola. "What muscles do you use for walking?." . N.p., Online Posting to Energya. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.energyanaturalfacelift.com/2012/02/what-muscles-do-you-use-for-walking/>.

Garcia, Julio. "So What is Used to Perform Plastic Surgery?." . N.p., Online Posting to Las Vegas Plastic Surgery Blog. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.lasvegasplasticsurgeryblog.com/>.

Pfiester, Bonnie. . N.p., Online Posting to PFIT Blog. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://pfitblog.com/>.

Von Hagens, Gunther. "The life in science." . N.p., Online Posting to Body world. E-mail. <http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/gunther_von_hagens/life_in_science.html>.

"Magnetic resonance imaging." . Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, E-mail. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging>.