Author: Bethany Brookshire / Source: Science News for Students
Mucus. You hack it up. Spit it out. Blow it into tissues and throw it away. But while it’s gross once it leaves the body, mucus, phlegm and snot play important roles inside us.
Part of the immune system, the role of this sticky goop is to help, explains Brian Button. He studies biophysics — the physics of living things — at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Mucus covers every part of our bodies that is exposed to the air but unprotected by skin. That includes our noses, mouths, lungs, reproductive areas, eyes and rectum. “All are lined with mucus to trap and clear the stuff we are exposed to,” he notes.
The sticky substance is made of long molecules called mucins (MEW-sins). Mixed with water, mucins link up to form a gluey gel. That gel traps bacteria, viruses, dirt and dust in its sticky embrace. In fact, mucus is the lung’s first line of defense against germs, which explains why the lung makes so much of it. Our lungs produce about 100 milliliters of mucus per day, enough to fill about a quarter of a 12-ounce soda can.
Lung mucus is known as phlegm. It’s thicker and stickier than the mucus in our noses or reproductive areas. But all of…
The post Explainer: The benefits of phlegm, mucus and snot appeared first on FeedBox.