Anatomy
ofaSneeze
Simultaneously expressing itself as a solid, a liquid and a gas, the
common sneeze is one of nature’s grossest miracles. Researcher Lydia
Bourouiba has a different name for sneezes, though:violent expiratory
events.That’s also the title of a recent study in which her team analysed
sneezes, millisecond by millisecond, with a high-speed camera and
sophisticated computer models. What did they find? There’s more to a
sneeze than what you see in your hanky – and that could influence our
understanding of the way diseases spread. Here’s a closer look at what
scientists see when you sayachoo!BY BRANDON SPECKTOR1
Like a blast of birdshot,
the initial ‘jet phase’
of a sneeze lasts only
milliseconds but can send
an estimated 40,000
droplets of various sizes
scattering outward as fast
as a car on a highway.WHO KNEW?
72 | April• 2018