3-minute read
Boogers, vomit, burps — all the grossest functions of the body — are being celebrated at the Liberty Science Center this summer, featured in its popular “Grossology” exhibition for the first time in nearly seven years.
“Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body” exhibition is based on a series of books called “Grossology” by Sylvia Branzei. The book and exhibition aim to teach children the science behind some of the nastier functions of the human body.
“Grossology” features interactive games, characters and visuals designed to engage the children in a humorous way, said Fred Hartmann, director of exhibitions at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.
The idea “is getting into the human body and why it makes the smells it makes, and makes the sounds and makes all the mucus and oozes and all those things, but do so in a really fun, lighthearted way that is very easy to absorb for children,” Hartmann said, “so they can also learn why these things happen and to not feel embarrassed about them.”
The exhibition is free to roam, letting children experience “Grossology” in any order they prefer. In the center of the exhibition is Nigel Nose-It-All, the main character who is a faucet that teaches children about different types of mucus.
By pressing buttons, children can interact with Nigel, who holds a tissue in his hand and even occasionally sneezes out snot when talking. Nigel explains the science as if he is telling a story, making the information easier to absorb for young children.
Next to Nigel is an old-school arcade-style game where children can use gadgets to remove bad particles from the blood, showing them how urine is made.
Rock climbing wall represents pimples, blisters
Other games include a life-size version of the classic board game “Operation.” Children are given rubber organs and must figure out where the organ goes in the body.
The smaller the organ, the harder it is to place and remove it from the body, posing a challenge to the children as they learn. One child visiting the other day boasted to his friends about getting the heart out.
There is also a guessing game centered on all the unpleasant smells that come out of the human body. By squeezing the bottles that are displayed, a scent is released that represents a different part of the body: the foot, armpit, anus or mouth.
This also became a fun competition for children visiting recently, who challenged their friends to smell the different scents.
The exhibition features a rock-climbing wall, representing skin as the wall and pimples, blisters and bruises as rocks. This engages the children both physically and visually, allowing them to release energy as they look at the science.
Other visuals include a fake X-ray screen that shows movements inside the stomach.
Most popular? Burp and fart machines
The most popular features among the kids were the burp and fart machines — the two loudest items in the exhibition. The sounds are made by putting pressure on a tube to make a fart sound, and pump “soda” into a stomach to make the character burp.
The fart machine teaches children that a fart’s noise depends on the pressure of the anus when letting out the air, Hartmann said. Children took turns laughing as they tried making the loudest and funniest farts with the machine.
“I love how they lean into these things that kids giggle about,” Hartmann said. “They’re not hiding from it. They’re leaning hard into it, saying it’s OK, it’s OK to laugh at these things.”
Other interactive games quiz children about their scientific knowledge by asking them a question and giving them buttons to press to reply.
How we vomit
For example, one machine prompts children to determine which order the organs play a role in making a person vomit. By playing the game, children learn that it is actually the brain that makes a person throw up first, not the stomach.
“Your brain is detecting things in your stomach, toxins that are not good for you, and your brain is sending a signal, first to your stomach and your esophagus,” Hartmann said.
After going through the exhibition, kids can quiz themselves with their friends by answering multiple-choice questions with buttons. Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins, creating a game for children to compete against each other.
Amid the gross noises of farts and burps is the loud laugher of children and parents. The exhibition will be open until Sept. 1. For more information, visit www.LSC.org.
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