For press information, please contact:
Linda Schneider
Marketing Director
(510) 643-8980
lindas@berkeley.edu

Press Release

Contact:  Linda Schneider, Marketing Director, (510) 643-8980

It’s Fun! It’s Disgusting! It’s Coming to Berkeley.  It's…
Grossology:  The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body

Grossology, the exhibit that’s blowing away attendance records at museums around the country, is coming back to where it all started: UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) September 30, 2006–January 7, 2007. Sylvia Branzei, creator of the Grossology series of books and consultant to the exhibit, made slime, fake snot, and other assorted bodily fluids as a science educator for LHS from 1988 to 1991.

Meet Her Grossness
Branzei, who proudly goes by the title “Her Grossness,” will be in Berkeley for opening day of Grossology to show folks how it’s done from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  She will return for LHS’s annual Halloween party, the evening  of  October 28. 
Ms. Branzei is available for interviews and appearances. Please contact Linda Schneider, Marketing Director at LHS, (510) 643-8980.

Why am I having diarrhea?
The exhibit itself is a fun way to find out why we sneeze, vomit, belch, and even stink. Dan McMillan, editor of the Portland Business Journal (and dad), wrote this review after taking his children, "…the genius of Grossology...is that it helps kids answer questions about themselves and the world around them—not esoteric questions, like ‘What would happen if I fell into a black hole?’; but questions kids really have to deal with, such as ‘Why am I having diarrhea?'"

Through hands-on and feet-on activities, giant animatronics, and computer games, Grossology provides the answers to how the human body fights germs, breaks down food, gets rid of trapped air, removes waste products, and performs other critical functions.

Get Blown Away or Slide Down an Esophagus
The exhibit begins with an animatronic “Her Grossness” pointing the way into the world of Grossology including:

Tour du Nose:  This giant nostril will blow you away.
Yu Stink:  What’s that smell and where does it come from? You make the match.
Patients Please:  Perform organ removal in a delicate surgical “operation.”
Vomit Center:  What goes down sometimes comes up.
Skin Climbing Wall:  Make your way across fake warts, hairs, and zits.
Gas Attack pinball:  Bounce around foods that give you the most gas.
Up Your Nose:  Shoot “dirt balls” into a giant nose, and see what happens!
Burp Man:  You pump the gas and wait for the sound.
Nigel Nose-it-All:  Find out why we have runny noses, allergies, sneezes, and snot.
Look Inside:  Visualize whirled peas and how other foods get digested.
Toot Toot:  What's behind those noisy, bodily surprises? 
Urine the Game:  Remove waste elements from the bloodstream.
GI Slide: Walk, crawl, climb, and slide down a 3-D model of the human digestive system.

Grossology is collaboration by Science World, Advanced Exhibits, and Sylvia Branzei-Velasquez, a former LHS science educator, and is based on Branzei-Velasquez’s best-selling Grossology books.

About Lawrence Hall of Science
Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) is the public science center of UC Berkeley. It is located on Centennial Drive below Grizzly Peak in the Berkeley Hills (near Tilden Park). LHS is open daily 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

General Admission:

$9.50 for Adults (ages 19–61)

$7.50 for Youth (ages 5–18), Full-Time Students, Senior Citizens (62+), Disabled

$5.50 for Children (ages 3–4)

FREE for Children 2 and under

The general information line is (510) 642-5132.  For more information, go to http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org