A UNIQUE science exhibition which has been described as potentially life-changing opens in the North-East this weekend.

The Centre for Life in Newcastle is hosting the world-famous Body Worlds exhibition developed by Gunther von Hagens, the scientist who invented plastination, a process which halts the decomposition of the body, for scientific and medical education.

The process sees fluids in the body replaced with plastics such as silicon rubber, polymers and resins to permanently preserve the specimens.

The Body Worlds exhibits, which have been seen by more than 38m people around the world, involves public anatomical exhibitions of plastinates, real human bodies which have been specially preserved through plastination.

Lindo Conlon, chief executive of the Centre of Life, said: “Every once in a while, you get the chance to experience something so deeply moving that it has the potential to change your life…. this exhibition offers one of those moments.”

This version of Body Worlds Vital, which has never been seen in the UK, celebrates the potential of the human body, giving visitors a detailed look at its incredibly complex features, exploring how it functions and what happens when disease strikes.

Among the full body plastinates on display within the exhibition is a relay runner posed mid-handover to display the muscular system, a pair of footballers jumping to head a ball and a gymnast posed mid-air in a spread-eagle jump.

During the course of exhibition’s six-month stay in Newcastle, Life will be running a programme of events, debates and lectures delivered in partnership with Northumbria and Newcastle Universities, among others.

The exhibition opens on Saturday (May 17). For more information and to buy tickets in advance, visit life.org.uk