Maverick German anatomist Gunther von Hagens is the inventor of "plastination," a process by which the body and fat in a corpse is replaced with a polymer. His surreal work is currently on display in Los Angeles. Now, von Hagens is preparing to plastinate a giant squid in his Heidelberg laboratory. From a New Scientist article:
To research the project, von Hagens visited (Auckland, New Zealand squid expert Steve) O'Shea in October to study some much smaller species such as arrow squid. "We dissected a number of 'sacrificial' squid," says O'Shea. This week, O'Shea sent a mature female giant squid, measuring about 10 metres including tentacles, and a mature male, just under 7 metres, to Heidelberg.
