The Kama Sutra isn't the only good resource on human sexual behavior. Ever thought about looking to sea urchins for inspiration? Or the inner workings of the orchid on your kitchen table?

This Thursday night, the Exploratorium, San Francisco's museum of science, art and human perception, is hosting After Dark: Sexplorations, a hands-on exhibit all about sex, sexuality and reproduction — a look at sex from behind the microscope to what happens under the covers. They're mentioning the unmentionables and publicizing the private to help you do your own learning, thinking, exploring and talking.

How, exactly?

By showing us that sex is everywhere, and sex is natural.

From the sea to the soil, we are literally covered in sex. Inhaling pollen is like inhaling sperm. Yes, plant sperm! (Makes you think differently about allergies, huh?) A bouquet of flowers is more like a bouquet of sex.

By sexing up science and unveiling all the ways in which sex happens in nature, Sexplorations challenges you to be curious, ask questions and take home a greater understanding of your own parts.

"We are giving you permission to explore sex in a way that is safe, but frank. We're not the Porn Palace! We're a science museum," notes Melissa Alexander, the museum's director of public programs.

Learning is not always about school, and learning about sex didn't stop after your eighth grade health class. Life is about continuous learning, and that's what this program is about. Plus, as Alexander admits, "learning is always more fun with a cocktail." From sea urchin fertilization and flower dissection to discussions about the sex lives of cats (it is national cat health month, after all), here are some highlights to look forward to:

Respected author and TED 2009 presenter Mary Roach is presenting! You'll be taken on a droll journey, with detours through barnyards and laboratories, through your understandings and misunderstandings of your sexual parts, their relationship to your mind, and the techniques of the scientists who have studied them. (8 p.m., McBean Theater)

Gonad a Go-Go: A Sex Organ Peep Show and "Cowboy Caviar"
Take an inside look at sheep and bull testicles, pig ovaries and other impressively sized "naughty bits" with a presentation that tracks sperm and eggs from development to union. And don't miss your happy ending: the chance to actually taste the testes! (7:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m, 9:00 p.m., Mezzanine. Tastings only while supplies last.)

Condom Couture Fashion Show
Where fashion meets sexual health! San Francisco nonprofit Project Inform has provided whimsical and sassy dresses made of hundreds of condoms that models will be showing off throughout the floor all evening.

Sexplorations of the Mechanical Kind: Take-Apart Sex Toys
Dissect and take-apart sex toys to discover what makes them go. You'll work collectively to harvest some of the more interesting parts and "re-use" them in creative ways. Give yourself an hour to really get the most out of this one! (6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., Mind area. Space is limited. First come, first served. And a big thanks to Good Vibrations for their generous donation!)

Gear up for a bug nest that's basically one big orgy, sperm comparisons (which animal's is biggest?), ongoing films and projections — like "Love Life of the Octopus" and "Sexual Encounters of the Floral Kind" — and even a your own DNA extraction (that you get to take home in a vial).

Too many sources talk about sex in ways that are ineffective, inaccurate and purposefully vague (i.e. Cosmo magazine's "20 positions that will make his toes curl!"). But this redesign in adult sex education can change the ways in which we comfortably understand ourselves and can communicate and interact with our current partners — and future ones! — to make our love, sex and dating lives that much more interesting, successful and healthy.

So, will you be ... coming? Bar opens at 6 p.m. See you there!

Photo by Amy Snyder.© Exploratorium, www.exploratorium.edu