Exciting news, friends: A traveling, 8-foot-high, 20-foot-long replica of the human colon is trundling its way toward UC Irvine!

Take a gentle stroll through this inflatable Super Colon, noting features of interest: smooth, healthy tissue over here, a bit of ulcerative colitis over there, as well as polyps and various stages of colorectal cancer spangled hither and thither. Learn more about the exhibit, an educational tool of the nonprofit Prevent Cancer Foundation, right here. I have to say, there's something a little weird about the photo on the website of a cheery bunch of kids posing inside a windsock-like, watermelon-reminiscent giant bowel -- but hey, everyone looks as if they're having fun!

The SoCal colon showing takes place Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at UC Irvine's National Cancer Survivors Day event. Check it out at 101 The City Drive, Orange, on the lawn area in front of Building 55.

And then, if you want still more, why not knit yourself some gut? As Sarah Illenberger did here, and Matie Trewe did here (she even has a pattern).

-- Rosie Mestel

Photo: Prevent Cancer Foundation