Associate anthropology professor Alexei Yurchak is writing a book about the embalming of former communist leaders, and in this article he informs a discussion of the secretive team of Russian technicians who keep those displayed bodies looking lively. "The original embalming and the regular re-embalmings have always been conducted by the scientists of the Moscow lab," he says. "Over the years they trained local scientists in some techniques, but not all, maintaining the core of the know-how secret." Among his anecdotes: When North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, the country was under regular bombardment by U.S. warplanes, and the Soviet Union airlifted the necessary chemicals and equipment to a cave outside of Hanoi for his embalmment. The first embalming takes several months, and thereafter the bodies need regular maintenance. "Every one-and-a-half to two years, these bodies are re-embalmed by the Moscow scientists," he says. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the so-called "Lenin Lab" sought new funding by offering its services to foreign clients, and North Korea was a key customer. This story appeared in dozens of sources around the world.