Museum of Human Disease

Hypochondriacs and WebMD enthusiasts, this one’s for you. For a stunning confrontation with your own mortality, pay a visit to this specialist museum housed within the University of New South Wales. In its possession are 2,000 specimens of human disease, obtained from the organs and tissue of autopsied patients who’ve generously given their bodies to science. You’ll see appetite-busting specimens of everything from tapeworms and typhoid to tuberculosis and teratoma, an alien-like tumour that grows its own hair, skin and teeth. Exhibits are accompanied by a detailed clinical history of the ill-fated donor patient, giving the weird fleshy bits you’re looking at some (sad) humanity. There are sections dedicated to lifestyle diseases that’ll have you signing up for the gym and throwing out your spirit cupboard, plus a trippy Oculus Rift exhibit where you can ‘walk’ through an artery. Sure, the lighting and décor are a little fusty lab-chic, but what’s inside the cabinets is some morbidly fascinating stuff. If you’re the kind of person who can’t watch an episode of Embarrassing Bodies without feeling your dinner shift north then this one’s not for you.