What We Do Not Know About Mucus: teacher key

Boogers and Snot, grade 11 edition, written for 11th grade. Mucus is about 98 percent water, and it helps trap germs and clear them away. Follow the studies behind it, from the cilia to the nose's two-hour shifts, and meet the questions scientists cannot yet answer.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What did the 2016 study find about the nasal cycle in sleep?
   • It stopped completely
   • It lasted about 2 minutes
   • It lasted about 4.5 hours (answer)
2. Why does water matter so much to mucins?
   • They are made only of salt
   • They must soak up over 100 times their mass of water to make the right gel (answer)
   • They freeze below the nose
3. Which fits a person whose symptoms start suddenly and last as long as pollen is present?
   • A cold
   • A nosebleed
   • Hay fever (answer)
4. What did the 1977 Mayo Clinic study find?
   • 72 percent of 50 people had a clear nasal cycle (answer)
   • It lasted 4.5 hours in everyone
   • Cilia beat five times an hour
5. What happens after a cold virus slows the cilia?
   • Mucus moves faster
   • The effect can last for several weeks (answer)
   • The nose stops making mucus
6. What is a microbiome?
   • A kind of cilium
   • A layer of stomach mucus
   • A community of microbes living in the nose (answer)

Words

• mucins: mucus gel proteins
• surfactants: slippery film makers
• microbiome: community of microbes
• autonomic: automatic body control
• histamine: allergy chemical