Body Odyssey's gross-out factor a winner

Kreedence Reid, 10, enjoys a fun way to learn about how the human body functions. Picture / Dean Purcell

From burps to more embarrassing bodily noises - it's all there to see, and hear, at a human body exhibition that opens in Auckland today.

Body Odyssey runs until June 17 at the TelstraClear Pacific Centre in Manukau. Children from Wiri Central School had a preview yesterday.

"It was cool," says 10-year-old Mercedes Tipene. "I learned that when food goes down into your stomach, it gets mushed up. Then the stuff that's bad, it comes out," she says, trailing off into giggles.

Mercedes must have been talking about the display called "A burger breaks down". Containing models of a burger, chips, corn on the cob and the human digestive system, it describes how food is mushed up and broken down, and the roles of the organs involved, such as the liver.

At the bottom, appropriately, the display reads: "Open the drawer, see what's left over."

Sensitivity to adults prevents this reporter from describing the drawer's contents. "The exhibition focuses on the gross factor, which works with kids," says education coordinator Victoria Travers. "They love farts and poo and wee."

Beside the burger exhibit, and near the exit of a 1.5m-high red tunnel with wiggly bits on the inside that double as intestines, is an interactive display of video clips and sounds from the digestive tract, end to end. The pictures take you deep into the wet tubes of the intestines.

"As you gobble food, you might swallow air too. Your stomach forces that air back out causing a burp," a voice from the display says, loudly enough to be heard above a cacophony of burps, rumbles and worse.

Body Odyssey is built around five of the main bodily systems: respiration, blood circulation, digestion, the immune system and the skin. It also highlights health issues such as asthma, obesity, vaccination and the relationship between emotional and physical wellbeing.

Of the many facts presented are that stomach acid can cut through metal and that if we live to 80, we will breathe about 600 million times.

"The overall purpose is about helping the audience, particularly children, to make healthy choices about their bodies," says Andy Lowe, touring exhibition manager for the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa.

The Children's Museum of Manhattan in New York developed Body Odyssey. Wellington-based Te Papa modified it for New Zealand.