Upper School Anatomy & Physiology Teacher Natalie Hanson will provide a dissection experience for some curious young scientists.

The student and up to four guests will join Ms. Hanson in an Upper School science lab classroom for a 2-hour exploration of the internal anatomy of a pig. A "Carolina Perfect Solution" double-injected preserved pig and dissection tools will be provided.

Ms. Hanson will guide students through the major organ systems, identifying their names and functions and connecting them to our human bodies and experiences. And of course, Ms. Hanson will happily answer questions along the way, no matter how "out there" they may be.

A little about pigs:

"'You're a pig!' might be a common insult but, interestingly, there are a number of similarities between humans and pigs. These include various anatomic and physiologic traits, such as organ placement (and often size and function), skin similarities, and some disease progression. A pig weighing around 60 kilograms will, for example, resemble a human body in many ways, including fat distribution, cover of hair, and ability to attract insects. For this reason, pigs have been used in medical research for over 30 years, and are what's known as a translational research model. This means that if something works in a pig, it has a higher possibility of working in a human.