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A Dome visit will put years on you

Marie Woolf Political Correspondent
Sunday 07 February 1999 00:02 GMT
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VISITORS to the Millennium Dome will be able to watch themselves go bald, grow wrinkles and develop sagging skin, and then take home a souvenir postcard, as part of a hi-tech exhibit on ageing in the "Body Zone".

L'Oreal Paris, the cosmetics company better known for its Kate Moss hair- care ads, is to set up an interactive installation which in seconds will digitally age the faces of visitors by 20 years.

People in middle age will see themselves as they will look at retirement, while pensioners will have the opportunity to roll back the years: a 60- year-old will be able to programme the machine to remove 20 years from his face.

"We are a beauty company and the purpose of our research is to produce more beauty products," said a spokeswoman for L'Oreal Paris. "But in order to do that we have to look at the health of the body. Our advanced labs are looking at genetics. We can take a picture of you 20 years on or take the years off."

Another controversial exhibit in the Body Zone, which features a giant installation of a couple in a Rodinesque embrace, will print the genetic fingerprint of individuals on a "DNA credit card".

It will include information on whether they are destined to grow fat, be good at sports or dance in the Kirov - but will stop short of giving out information on whether they could develop cancer or Alzheimer's disease. Visitors will enter a 21st-century photo booth where their iris will be mapped for genetic clues.

At the foot of the giant figures will be an exploration area featuring interactive exhibits on how the body works. In one installation visitors will be asked for a sample of blood. The computer will analyse, by measuring protein, sugar and fat levels, what the person had for breakfast - including whether their eggs were poached or fried.

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