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Science nerds and history buffs will get a kick out of watching the Penn Museum's Egyptian collection curators working hands-on with ancient artifacts. (Photo courtesy Penn Museum)

Penn Museum’s Egyptian collection, home to more than 42,000 ancient artifacts, is now offering visitors an inside look at the work that goes into conserving and maintaining the pieces that give us a glimpse at the ancient human world.

Molly Gleeson, the project conservator, and other Penn Museum Conservators will be working on-site periodically and giving guests a close-up look at what their craft and skill entails.

Want to talk to them directly? Question and answer periods will take place at 11:15 a.m. and 2 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and 1 and 3:30 p.m. on weekends.

Part exhibition, part working laboratory, “In The Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies” lets you watch as the conservators study, examine, clean, mend and meticulously conserve artifacts and mummified human and animal remains. Close-up images are projected onto a big screen allowing you to see, through two high-powered microscopes, the decaying matter and just what is required to preserve and keep these artifacts intact.

The glass-encased lab they’re working in is equipped with all of the nifty tools of the trade including a high powered (60X) binocular microscope and even higher powered (200X) polarized light microscope, optivisors, a fume extractor to get rid of noxious chemicals and other several other interesting devices you can watch in action.

Don’t forget to take the tour throughout the rest of the museum where you can see a multitude of authentic and unique artifacts extracted from Egypt including the 12-ton red granite sphinx — the largest in the western hemisphere — and much, much more.

Catch it while you can — there’s no end date to the exhibit just yet, but it might be over by the time the new year rolls around.

“In The Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies”
When: Museum hours are Tuesday and Thursday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Where: Penn Museum, 3260 South Street
Cost: Free with admission
More Info: www.penn.museum