News Release

OMAHA, NE, SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 -- Starting on Saturday, October 2, visitors to The Durham Museum will enjoy a journey into the skin of the earth and explore the amazing world of soils in the new exhibition, Dig It! The Secrets of Soil.

Completely familiar yet largely unknown, soils help sustain virtually every form of life on Earth. Still, it is said that we know more about the dark side of the moon than we do about the Earth beneath our feet. Created by the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Dig it! will transport visitors to the world of fungi, bacteria,
worms, and countless other organisms. Visitors will discover the amazing connections between soils and everyday life and think about this hidden world in a whole new way!

Exhibition Galleries
At Home in the World of Soils explores the connections between soil and culture. While we walk on soils every
day, we rarely think about how soils affect our daily lives. Visitors will learn about the “secret ingredients” in
thousands of everyday items including medicine, food, fi ber, paint, cosmetics, and pottery.

The Underneath it All gallery explores soils in a broader perspective. A large topographic model illustrates the
role of soils in residential, urban, and carbon cycles. Visitors will learn how soil management can help meet the
modern day demands for food production, infrastructure construction, and environmental protection.

The Big Picture includes a world map and computer interactive stations that highlight surprising global
connections to soils.

Curious visitors can also dig into life, death, and decay in the Matters of Life and Death Theater. Through video and hands-on interactives, visitors will learn how microorganisms that inhabit soil impact our planet.

In Sizing up the Soil, visitors will get the dirt on soils in an array of fun interactive and exhibition stations. A
“Chef Challenge” kitchen includes two flamboyant "soil chefs" who create two very different soils from the same
ingredients. And visitors will be able to find their "home earth" in a display of soil samples representing each
state in the nation.

Dig It! The Secrets of Soil will be on display October 2 – December 26, 2010 at The Durham Museum.

Dig It! was created with the support of the Soil Science Society of America and the Nutrients for Life Foundation, which is underwritten by The Fertilizer Institute. Dig It! is sponsored locally by the Douglas County Commissioners, the Monsanto Fund, Northern Natural Gas, Cox Communications, the Steven H. Durham Family Foundation, The Scoular Foundation, and LI-COR Biosciences. Additional support is provided by William Buffett and Susan Kennedy.

About The Durham Museum
The Durham Museum, making its home in Omaha’s beautiful art deco Union Station, is home to permanent exhibits that preserve Omaha’s vibrant history, traveling exhibits covering subjects ranging from history and culture, to science and industry, and many entertaining, educational, family-oriented activities. The Durham Museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and has strong ties with the Library of Congress, National Archives, and The Field Museum. Admission is free for members and children age 2 and under; $7 for adults; $6 for seniors; and $5 for children 3-12. For information about The Durham Museum please visit the museum’s Web site at www.durhammuseum.org.

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