Students at the University of Denver got the drinking experience without the drink last week on Driscoll Bridge.

The interactive exhibit was jointly sponsored by the Museum of Nature and Science and DU Student Health Center.

“Alcohol Use: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” offered information, statistics and brochures as well as a model of a 25-pound beer belly and an interactive exercise of attempting to walk while wearing “drunk” goggles.

The purpose of the exhibit, Health Promotion Coordinator Lou Gidney said, was to indicate problems for alcohol and other health problems as well as “help students and make them more aware.”

The focus was on binge drinking. Binge drinking carries risks of damaging cognitive and emotional parts of the brain and may lead to anti-social behavior, high-risk sex and drinking and driving.

Barbara Robson from the museum said, “binge drinking affects the brain stem and makes the heart beat really fast or really slowly, causing a stroke or heart attack.” The lungs and liver are also severely affected.

The exhibit stressed that any amount of alcohol in the body will change or alter the way your body reacts to circumstances because alcohol is a drug.