Kids – and parents and grandparents with strong stomachs and good senses of humor – can enjoy such interactive attractions as the “Vomit Center,” “Toot Toot,” pinball machines called “Gas Attack,” and a video game named “Urine: The Game.”
All are part of “Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body.” The traveling exhibit, which opens today, is based on the best-selling series of books “Grossology,” written by Sylvia Branzei and illustrated by Jack Keely.
The exhibit’s real aim is not to gross people out but to teach science, said human health curator Bridget Coughlin.
“Obviously, as a scientist, I had to experience this exhibit first,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that in the brightly colored paint and the gross factoids, there are real deep scientific lessons that we’re teaching our youngest visitors. I am wholly satisfied that we are.”
Don’t take that as a sign that Coughlin is an overly serious scientist who finds having fun a bit distasteful.
No elementary school student will have more fun with “Grossology” than Coughlin and museum spokeswoman Julia Taylor did during a tour last week.
The two women laughed and taunted each other as they went head-to-head in “Test Your Grossology: Let’s Play Grossology.” Up to five children can play the quiz at one time.
They must choose answers to such pressing questions as how long it takes gas to travel through your digestive system. (One hour, for the curious.)
Coughlin and Taylor worked hand-in-hand at the “Vomit Center” to create, well, vomit.
And they played “Gas Attack” pinball, where holes and bumpers represent different foods.
“The balls are bacteria, and you get points any time you hit something that the bacteria can eat, help you digest and therefore excrete methane,” Coughlin said.
Coughlin holds a doctorate in microbiology, so she never loses sight of the exhibit’s science.
She said “Grossology” offers many lessons in anatomy, physiology and microbiology, as well as cultural information.
“The biology behind all this is universal,” Coughlin said. “Everyone has (nasal mucus), whether you live in Tanzania or Parker, Colo., and everyone (passes gas). So what is the socially acceptable practice to deal with that? Over at the burp station, the cultural factoid is that while burping for us is rude, in different cultures, such as China, it is a sign of gratitude to your host that you have eaten enough. But the (passing gas) section says it is universally unaccepted to (pass gas) in public.”
At the center of “Grossology” stands professor Nigel Nose-It-All, a two-legged water faucet that later proves a bit leaky. The professor explains what nose cilia do and how they do it. He tells how hay fever prevents the cilia from doing their work, which results in a runny nose.
“I’m really pleased that throughout the exhibit when they talk about (mucus) and boogers and (flatulence), all the scientific words are here and used continually,” Coughlin said.
“Grossology” also features such factual tidbits as how long it takes people to become carriers once they catch a virus. (They do not have to have cold symptoms before passing the bug on to others.)
The museum has a history of adding something of its own to traveling exhibits. This time it is the Fact or Fiction Table and the Scat Match Game.
The first one seeks the answers to questions like this: Can you sneeze with your eyes open?
“Well, no, because physiologically you can’t,” Coughlin said. “We walk (visitors) through the eye socket joint, the fibers that keep your eye in place, and we talk about involuntary muscle response.”
Scat Match is just what it says.
Visitors are asked to match the packaged scat from critters with pictures of the correct animals taken at museum’s diorama – all rear-end shots.
It also offers macrobiology lessons. By looking at the scat one can tell what the animal eats and its size.
Microbiology is part of the exhibit too.
“The micro lesson is what do we learn about the health of the animal and what the animal eats at the micro level,” she said. “We have a set of slides and a microscope so you can see things like giardia, botulism and salmonella.”
The museum today also opens a revamped Hall of Life exhibit.
Fans of this section, the museum’s second-most popular permanent display, will see some new features but probably will not notice that the software is updated with the latest health science facts and figures.
Coughlin predicted the most popular new feature will be the interactive DNA forensic lab, a collaboration between the museum and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Staff writer Ed Will can be reached at 303-820-1694 or ewill@denverpost.com.
Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body
SCIENCE FOR KIDS|Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily today-Jan. 1 |Free with museum admission, $6 and $10|303-322-7009 or dmns.org
