Courtesy of St. Louis Science Center

The Grossology exhibit opened at the St. Louis Science Center in October 2010. The exhibit provides museum patrons with the opportunity to examine outputs of the human body, including flatulence and vomit.

This special exhibit, inspired by a best-selling children’s book series by Sylvia Branzei, is on display at the Science Center through March 27. Now is the perfect time to take a breather from mid-term cramming and explore the body as if you were 6 years old again.

I began my exploration of the “oozy, crusty, scaly gunk” that our body produces (as advertised by the exhibit) at the “Sniff-Sniff” station by the entrance to the exhibit. Perhaps by now, most college students know that people smell. But who would turn down the opportunity to inhale the odors emitted from a mouth, foot, armpit and, yes, anus? And what better way to test our true adult knowledge than to make us guess the origin of each bacterial stench we sniff? Don’t be too sure of yourself. The foot and anus smell more similar than you might think.

The next stop is“Nigel Nose-It-All.” Nigel, the oversized humanoid faucet clad in a pink-and-green-striped robe and fuzzy slippers, explains the science behind the common runny nose. While he may not describe the intricacies of bacterial infections, his fast facts and even his robotic voice are charming and provide a nice break from the usual chemistry class jargon. If you are really lucky, as Nigel reports that the average person swallows a quart of mucus a day, you will glimpse a monstrous bubble of snot protrude from his nose before being sucked back up into his faucet.

The exhibit offers a plethora of interactive stations to visit. At “Poo-to-You,” you can take a virtual endoscopy trip through the large intestine, rectum and anus. At the “Toot-Toot” station, you can press tubes into certain holes to emulate the vibrations and sounds of flatulence. At “Gas-Gas-Gas,” you can play pinball. The goal: to hit foods that produce the most gas. Clearly beans are the golden ticket, earning 4,000 points per hit.

Unfortunately, most college students surpass the height limit for the digestive system jungle gym, which takes you on a trip down the esophagus all the way through the rectum. But the walk-in nose, covered in blood vessels, nose hairs and mucous factoids, serves as a pleasing alternative. Apparently, in some cultures it is customary for mothers to suck out the mucus from their baby’s noses and spit it on the ground. Who knew?

An array of other activities clutter the walls, clearly designed for short-attention-spanned 6-year-olds. Although the target audience might be well under 20 years old, the exhibit provides a welcoming environment to talk about how gross our bodies really are. As college students who are transitioning into the professional domain, we must cherish the time we still have to talk and learn about snot and poop. So, if you are looking for a break from chemical structures, political correctness and suppressed bodily functions, Grossology is the place for you.