Spit and Snot Operation Ouch!


Spit and Snot

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Are you ready for our Ouch! Snips?

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-Ouch!

-Exactly.

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The answer is C - a litre.

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Your body couldn't work without it.

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And one form of mucus is your...

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..snot. What is it? Where does it come from? And most importantly,

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since it's so delicious, why has nobody started a snot restaurant?

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Well, I've come to Cardiff University's

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School of Biosciences to find out.

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This is Dr Kelly Berube.

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And she's a snot expert.

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Kelly, what is snot?

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Snot is a natural polymer that you create.

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These are your cells

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on all the mucus membranes that line all the areas of your body that

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are exposed to the outside.

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This isn't real snot, but it's a special mixture that Dr Kelly

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has made to show exactly why it needs to be so sticky.

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Anywhere where invaders - proteins, bacteria - can get in,

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you need to have this material to keep them off.

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See, you are sticking to it now, it's like flypaper.

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So you inhale, boom - it sticks on there,

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and then the defender cells will say,

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"That shouldn't be in here," goes in and kills them.

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Or you sneeze it, spit it or swallow it.

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Just got to get it out of the body.

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Mucus like this protects all the areas of your body

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that are connected to the outside world.

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So you make mucus in your nose, in your mouth,

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all through your gut to your bum.

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Also in your lungs and also covering your eyes.

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Snot is actually nasal mucus.

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These liquids show how your snot and mucus can be

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lots of different colours.

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So what can we tell about someone from looking at their mucus?

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You can tell whether they are sick,

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what kind of food they like to eat, what their occupation is

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and even where they live.

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What can you tell me about my body from looking at mine?

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-We're going to have to pick some out. Are you game for that?

-Yeah.

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So I'm taking a good sample of my snot on this sterile swab.

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And now mucus from my lungs.

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Sorry! But it is all in the name of medical research.

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-So just a little bit yellow.

-Yeah.

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-It's not bad but there are flecks of grey as well.

-Yeah.

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So, it's time to get the results from all of my sticky mucus

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and snot.

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So what can you tell from looking at this?

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If you look on the screen, the mucus is very thick and extended,

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which has done what it's supposed to do,

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like flypaper it's trapped things.

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It's trapped a lot of soot particles.

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Obviously, you live in a big city.

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So it's done a great job, actually. It's done what it's supposed to do.

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Looks like some pollen in there, actually, as well.

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So the mucus in my body is doing exactly what it's supposed to do,

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it's trapped all the things that could be causing me disease

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and then I've been able to cough it up and get rid of it.

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You also find mucus in your saliva.

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Time to head to the lab to find out more.

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As well as keeping your mouth fresh and healthy,

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saliva has another very important job - it helps you eat and swallow.

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It's 99% water, but there is a magic 1% containing mucus.

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Which is what makes saliva slippery and slimy

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and helps you swallow.

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So to show you how amazing your mucusy saliva is...

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..I bring you the Spit Slide Challenge.

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Xander and I have a bowl each with some teeth to chew up

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this plate of food.

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We're going to chew up the food, put it in our mouths

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and send it down the tube that goes from our mouths to our stomachs.

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There is only one twist -

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and that is, only one of us will have a bottle of saliva.

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And that one is me.

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-Me.

-Is me.

-It's me.

-No, me.

-It's me.

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-I'm going to have it.

-That bloke looks just like you!

-Does he?

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So he does!

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-Let the chewing begin!

-What?! This isn't fair.

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Get on with it.

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Xand's adding some saliva to his bowl of chewed food,

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exactly what happens in your mouth.

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But I don't have any for mine!

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Without saliva, chewing up my food is immensely difficult.

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It's just formed a big solid mass in my mouth.

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Thanks to saliva, my bowl of food is turning into a nice, slimy paste.

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Time to get it down the hatch.

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There you go!

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Yes!

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Look at how my food mixed with saliva slides down easily.

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But check out Chris's.

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Without saliva, my food gets stuck in the throat

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instead of sliding to the stomach.

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Chris, you've got to stop, he's choking!

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He didn't even get to eat his tomatoes yet.

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Well, you know what this means?

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What? Chris is in danger?

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No! That I'm the winner of the Spit Slide Challenge.

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Thanks to saliva.

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Thanks, saliva!

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So we have shown you that mucus is vital in keeping your body

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working, from your super-sticky snot to the

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magic 1% mucus you find in your saliva.

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-See you next time!

-Bye!

-Bye! Bye!

-Bye.

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-Bye-ee!

-Bye.

-Bye-ee-ee!

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THEY MOUTH

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