What causes lightning? When air rises and falls within a thunderstorm, positive and negative charges form in the cloud. The bottom of the thundercloud has a negative charge, and the top has a…
Why do I feel dizzy when I spin? Inside your ears are tubes filled with liquid. The liquid moves when you move, telling your brain what position your body is in. When you spin, the liquid also…
Why we sneeze, snore, yawn, burp, bruise, and other fascinating medical questions Why do we sneeze? What happens when my foot falls asleep? Why does my nose run? Why do we shiver…
We sneeze to clear our breathing passages. We all have a natural reflex to sneeze whenever a small foreign substance enters our airways. So don’t hold back your sneezes-let ‘em rip!
Feet don’t really sleep. They just feel tingly when an adequate blood supply to our nerves is cut off. This usually happens when you stay in one position too long—like sitting with your legs…
The nose serves as one of the body’s first barriers against infection. Your nose makes more mucus when a foreign substance, such as a virus, enters the body. The increased mucus, combined with…
When we shiver, our bodies are doing the opposite of sweating. Sweating cools the body by putting a layer of liquid on the skin. Shivering tightens the skin and shakes the muscles, a process that…
A bruise is actually a pocket of blood under the skin caused by a broken blood vessel. It changes color and fades as the body reabsorbs the blood from the bruise.
Temperatures rise in our bodies to fight infections. Fevers create an environment that, we hope, is too warm for the invading organisms. Turning up the heat makes viruses and bacteria feel…
Scabs patch up holes in the skin. Certain cells in our bloodstream recognize when our skin has been broken. These cells, called platelets, start patching the break in the skin and call in other…
