Museum exhibits tackle subjects from 'gross' anatomy to mammoths

Special to ViewChildren take to the Skin Climbing Wall during the opening of the Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body exhibition on June 5 at Lied Discovery Children?s Museum. Advertisement

This summer, bathroom behavior goes public and fluorescent body parts are the norm in downtown Las Vegas.

Both the Lied Discovery Children's Museum and the Las Vegas Natural History Museum offer families educational opportunities to keep kids learning during the summer months. Lied is hosting a $75,000 exhibition through Sept. 7 that explores bodily functions, and the natural history museum has two traveling exhibits this summer.

Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body, features a large-scale interactive exhibit that challenges museum-goers to take out and replace anatomically correct organs, a la Operation, the children's game.

"It gives an educational experience, but in a fun and innovative way," Tifferney White, museum director of education and programs, said.

Animatronics, video games and hands-on displays help teach children and their families about why humans get runny noses, body odor, gas and skin blemishes. Topics that are typically taboo are tackled in an upfront, kid-friendly way.

A burp-o-meter measures the strength of gas buildup in one exhibit, while another allows visitors to smell an odor and guess from which body part it came.

"I really feel like there's not a lot for families to do with children in Las Vegas," White said. "This isn't just entertainment, but educational, as well. We're teaching science here."

In addition to the exhibits, Lied will offer special seminars throughout the summer on different bodily functions that are open to the public along with a paid museum admission. Lied Discovery Children's Museum, 833 Las Vegas Blvd. North, has more than 100 interactive exhibits in the arts, sciences and humanities for children and families. For more information, visit www.ldcm.org or call 382-5437.

Across the street at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, the Las Vegas mainstay is featuring two traveling exhibits this summer in addition to its permanent rooms. Tusks: Mammoths and Mastodons provides museum-goers a look into the ice age with an exhibit full of North American mammoths.

The other traveling exhibit, Glow: Living Lights, gives visitors an inside peak at bioluminescence, or the production and emission of light by a living organism. The Glow exhibit is attached to the museum's marine room, where children and adults can learn about sharks, stingrays, eels and fish.

"It's a treasure in the desert," Amy Wojciechowski, development officer for the museum, said.

The natural history museum still offers its taxidermy specimens, but has added updates to its existing Africa, prehistoric and Nevada rooms as new scientific data becomes available. The Egypt room is scheduled to open at the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010.

"This is a way of escape for the day," Wojciechowski said.

For more information on upcoming events at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, visit www.lvnhm.org or call 384-3466. General admission for the Lied Discovery Children's Museum is $8 for adults and $7 for children and seniors. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Admission to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, 900 Las Vegas Blvd. North, costs $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, military personnel and students and $4 for children ages 3 to 11. It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Contact View education reporter Laura Emerson at lcarroll@viewnews.com or 380-4588.