I'm starting this thread since, after clicking o the link so kindly provided by Amos on the "folk science" thread, I thought this topic worthy of closer examination.

If you haven't had the pleasure, PLEASE:

http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp?id=ns232216

This woman employs a method of teaching science called "grossology" to keep interested, and I can see how it works; when my son was studying Egypt a couple years ago, he really started getting fired up about the topic when he learnt all the nauseating details of the embalming processes used for mummies: the liquefication of the deceased's brain matter with a special little whisk-like tool was especially fascinating to him, particularly when he saw how this info made his grandmother blanch when he shared it with her over dinner in a posh restaurant!

I predict a great future foir Grossology as an academic discipline, albeit one adopted almost exclusively by males!