Boing

The duodenum (say it: doo-oh-DEE-num) is the very first bit of your small intestine — the hallway right after your stomach. Food arrives here as a warm mush and gets mixed with digestive juices before its long journey. Boing sits anchored in this hallway, springing up whenever something interesting floats by.

The mushy food (called chyme) drips slowly from the stomach into the duodenum, where three helpers join in: juice from the pancreas, bile from the gallbladder, and the intestine’s own juices. Together they get every nutrient ready to be absorbed. It is the busiest mixing station in your body — no wonder Boing is so jumpy.

The whole trip — mouth to the very end — usually takes one to three days! A few hours in the stomach, four to six hours through the small intestine, then a slow ride through the large intestine. Boing watches it all go by from its springy stalk, like a doorman on a pogo stick.

Boing is a PeekaLab creature inspired by a vorticella — the bell-flower microbe on a springy stalk that recoils in a flash when startled. Sits perfectly still on its springy stalk... then BOING! The jumpiest creature in the lab.

Boing lives near the Upper Intestine. A real vorticella's stalk coils up in a flash — one of the fastest movements in the microscopic world, faster than a blink!

Open PeekaLab and move your cursor over the scan area. When you get close, Boing will glow and reveal itself. Look for faint pulsing rings — that's a clue something is hiding there!

Boing is a fun character inspired by real biology! The creature design and organ facts are based on real microorganisms and anatomy, but Boing itself is a fictional, friendly version for kids to enjoy.