Hi, I'm Nidge.
And today on Imagine This... Do you have the sniffles?
I have snot.
I get super snotty.
Oh, we can start again.
Nope, I'm ready.
Oh, okay.
Well, today on Imagine This, we're getting very noisy and talking about snot.
Boogie!
Boogie, boogie, snot, snot.
You have loads of questions about snot.
Hi, I am George and I'm six years old and I want to know what is snot.
What are boogies and why do they come out of your nose?
Hi, my name's Klaus.
I'm six years old and my question is... what a book is for and how they're made.
Hi, I'm Eliza and I'm five years old.
I want to know how snot grows back again.
Hi, my name's Edward and I'm six years old.
Why do we have snooze?
Hi, I'm Penelope and I'm seven years old and I want to know what is snooze?
What a boogers.
Why does it come out of your nose?
So many snotty questions.
I know who can help us with this.
Meet my friend, Associate Professor Kim Murphy.
She's a medical scientist and a bit... of a snot specialist.
I think a snot specialist is someone who touches snot a lot.
Maybe she likes the tissues?
Oh no, you can keep your tissues to yourself for now.
Hi Dr. Kim.
Can you help us answer a bunch of questions about snot?
I sure can.
But the best place to do it is probably inside the slime factory.
Slime.
I love making slime.
Me too.
And the slime factory we're visiting is actually a nose.
A nose!
Are we going inside a nose?
Yep.
So we need to imagine ourselves really small.
Small enough for all of us to fit inside.
A nose slippery, it feels slimy.
Is this a nostril?
It's actually a gland next door to the nostril.
What's a gland?
Glands are like little pockets in human bodies and they fill up with all the fluids we make like sweat tears, saliva and milk.
What about snot?
Yep.
Do you want to help make some?
Yeah.
You can make slime with shaving cream, with glue and glitter.
They're fun suggestions for the slime you play with, but it's not as made from different ingredients.
So what do we need?
First up, lots of water.
Here you go.
We also need a few pinches of salt.
What about pepper?
No pepper.
But we do need a big dollop of proteins.
Proteins?
What are they?
Proteins are like little building blocks inside our bodies.
They help us grow and stay strong.
Mix, mix, mix.
Sticky.
Hey, the slime is getting stickier.
Yeah, the proteins make it sticky.
So is snot... just a type of sticky slime?
The proper name is nasal mucus.
We have different sorts of mucus in lots of our body parts, like our eyes, ears and tummies.
But the mucus in our nose is what we've nicknamed I can't believe I'm touching snot.
What do we do with this snot now?
We're going to tip it all out.
What?
No!
This snot is needed somewhere else.
Where?
Next door.
In the nostril?
Yep.
Okay, let's tip it out.
Here it comes.
It's flowing out of here.
Great.
Now, let's sit on our bums and slide out with it.
Slide through the snot?
Yep.
Like a snotty water slide?
A snot slide.
A snot slippery dip.
That's a bit gross.
Let's go.
All right.
Whee!
Woohoo!
Whee!
It's kind of dark here.
Are we in a cave?
Hello!
Is anyone home?
Welcome to the nostril.
It's very hairy.
It sure is dab in here.
All thanks to our snot.
There's snot on the floor.
Yep.
One reason we make snot is to keep the insides of our noses slippery.
So we can slide around.
If our nostrils are too dry, they can get sore, especially with all the wind passing through when we breathe in and out.
I think the owner of this nose might be taking a big breath in right now onto one of the nostril hairs.
Hold on tight.
Pretty windy.
Nostrils are also a bit like air conditioners.
Inside helps make the air warm, moist and smoother to breathe.
Where does the air go?
Up the nose and down into the lungs.
We don't want to get sucked down there.
Phew.
Hey, did the air in that big breath just do something to the snot?
It's all chunky.
Oh yeah, all that air has dried out the snot.
It's turned into what some people call a booger.
Gross.
Should we pick our boogers?
If you pick your nose, it's snot's nose.
It's okay to blow or pick your nose every now and then, but your nostrils are sensitive places.
They're easy to scratch or accidentally push some germs up inside.
Um, maybe someone needs to tell the owner of this nose about that.
It's a giant finger!
It's coming straight for us.
Behind!
Behind this booger!
Look out!
Oh, it got a big golden one.
It would be disgusting if you ate it.
Kim, should we eat our boogers?
Well, boogers are mostly dried proteins and salt, so it's not really harmful.
But they might have dirt or blood or germs in them.
You should stick to proper food.
The snot's turning from clear to brown.
That can happen when dirt or dust gets up our nose.
And that can also make us... Everyone, huddle together.
I think we're about to be...
We're getting sucked in.
And now we're getting sucked into another nose.
What?
Uh, Kim.
What just happened?
I think that sneeze launched us out of the nostril and I guess there was another nose close by.
And it breathed us in?
Yep, us and a few snot droplets.
There's a lot more snot in this nose.
I'm stuck.
It's up to my knees.
That's another reason we have snot.
It sticks and traps invaders in the nostrils so that we don't breathe them down into our lungs.
But we're not invaders.
Get us out of this...
Sticky trap.
Here, grab my hand.
Thank you, Nidge.
No worries.
This nut is thicker and yellow.
Yeah, that's a sign that the owner of this nose is fighting off a virus or infection.
Do you remember how we were mixing proteins into our slime?
Yes.
Two of those super special proteins are called enzymes and antibodies.
Enzymes.
Antibodies.
They work really hard to keep us healthy by fighting against germs and viruses.
You can do it!
When they're fighting really hard, our snot turns yellow or green.
My snot is green sometimes.
Healthy snot is usually clear.
But the antibodies in the snot don't win all their fights.
Otherwise we'd never get sick, right?
That's right.
Sometimes viruses can sneak past our snotty traps.
Then they make their way into our cells and infect them.
No!
Not allowed in our cells.
Go away virus.
Oh yeah, we've learned about viruses.
But what happens to the nose when they get into our cells?
One way our body responds is to make more snot.
More snot means more virus-fighting proteins and stickier traps to stop germs spreading.
The owner of this nose must be working really hard to fight off their virus.
Kim, is this nose about to overflow with snot?
A snot fly.
I think we'll be okay.
Come to the front of the nostril, right near the opening.
I don't want to fall out.
The back of the nose is closer to the throat and when the snot starts to build up...
We swallow the snot down into our throats, just like that.
Yuck!
We drink our snot?
Most people's slime factories make more than a litre of snot a day.
That's about the size of a big drink bottle.
And we swallow almost all of it.
Gulp! after gulp all day and night without even realising.
A litre?
I can't believe I drink that much snot.
Don't worry about it.
It's mostly water after all.
But if we're swallowing snot that has germs in it, Aren't we just moving the germs from our noses to our tummies?
Yep, but that's a good thing.
Our tummies are full of powerful acids that will kill the germs when they arrive.
Die, germs.
Wow, luckily we didn't get swallowed.
Those tummy acids sound intense.
I'd rather be inside a nose.
Here comes more snot.
There are glands all around our noses that are always making mucus.
And our nostrils are always filling up with it.
It just keeps coming.
If we didn't swallow it it would all just run out of our nostrils because we make so much of it and our noses are too small to hold it all in.
Our nose will explode.
Speaking of snot explosions, is the owner of this nose About to blow us out?
Oh no, a tissue.
I think I know what's coming next.
Oh no, look out!
I think it's a good time to imagine ourselves out of here.
Let's make it quick.
Here comes the hanky.
Hmm.
I think I want to have a shower.
That's a good idea.
We should always wash our hands if we touch snot.
Ah, good tip.
Kim, thanks for teaching us all about snot and boogers.
My pleasure.
Bless you.
Your snot.
The factories are working.
I hope they're putting lots of protein in.
Me too.
So Jude, Klaus, Eliza, Edward and Penelope.
Snot is the nickname we give to mucus in our noses.
It's made just all through our body.
We don't call it snot if it's not in our nose.
It's made around our noses in special factories called glands.
Gland factories.
They mix up water, salt, and proteins that help make our snot slimy.
It also feels hard sometimes.
Boogers is the nickname some people give to dried snot.
We probably shouldn't eat it.
There are a few reasons we have snot and boogers.
The first is that it keeps our nostrils slippery.
A slippery dip.
Snot also stops invaders, like dust and germs, from getting further into our bodies.
Like a sticky chap.
Proteins in snot also fight off viruses and infections.
Enzymes?
Empty bodies.
And finally, the reason snot keeps coming out of our noses is because we make so much of it.
Too much for our noses to hold. both.
Snot and boogers are a normal part of our bodies and they do a lot to keep us healthy.
Niche, I think you have a booger on your shirt.
What?
That is snot funny.
