World Anatomy Day - 15 October 2024 - Amazing Anatomy event held at the Grant Museum

The Centre for Integrative Anatomy got ahead of World Anatomy Day (15 October 2024), by running an exciting, hands-on event in the Grant Museum, London, on Saturday, 12 October 2024. A great time was had by all: Anatomy IS Amazing!

We helped to celebrate World Anatomy Day, by having run (in advance) an Amazing Anatomy event in the Grant Museum, London, from 11:00-15:00 on Saturday, 12 October 2024.  Our records show that 299 adults and 78 children joined in the fun over the course of the four hours and the Museum was still pretty full as we were closing.

This was a day suitable for both individuals of all ages and groups, including families, and attracted the attention of Time Out magazine in London as a demonstration of the Museum being family-friendly. It was very hands-on, with a host of fun, varied and interesting activities available in which to participate. There were no boring talks, but plenty of expert anatomists from our Centre on hand to answer questions - from the straightforward (what is this bone called?) to the more complex (how did the skull get to be that shape?).

 

There were two trails (or answer-hunts) that people could follow round the museum – one comprised photos of relevant bits of different swimming animals, and the other focused more generally on animal skeletons.

There was a ‘children’s’ craft table (not limited to children!) in the centre, where they could colour, make anatomy-related badges, sew felt organs, put stickers on gut parts, make pipe cleaner skeletons (very cool!), etc.  This table, put together by the Anatomy Lab team, was very popular and had to be expanded to accommodate all our visitors!

 

There were also two word-search puzzles that could be done either in the museum or taken home.

 

 

We also had some higher-tech available, being an 'Anatomage table' – essentially like a giant iPad, showing a human body!

There was also one table for learning about human anatomy, showing models of body parts;

and another for exploring comparative-evolutionary anatomy, using skulls examples.

At this second table, visitors could think about and explore:

- how different dentitions (arrangements & type of teeth) can reveal information about the animal's diet;

- human modification of phenotype (physical appearance) of animals (e.g. comparing normal v inbred dogs) and how it can shed light on what nature does in evolution;

- convergence - the independent evolution of similar features at very different times - using a 3D-printed thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) in conjunction with a dog skull; and

- other various specialised animals like the sloth, the tree shrew, etc, also 3D-printed.

Anyone who came to this table was encouraged to go around the museum to look for other examples of convergence or diet specialisation, for example.

Don't wait for the next Anatomy Day or Amazing Anatomy event to get stuck into anatomy - visit the Grant Museum or the Natural History Museum or Science Museum or any of the medical/anatomical museums listed here if you're in central London, or any of the other wonderful museums and venues near you, where you can explore more about this area!  Or contact us if you are considering studying or a career in this field.

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