Everyone sneezes, but why do we do it? The inside of your nose is surprisingly sensitive.

Sneezing happens when the inside of your nose is irritated by something. The irritant could be
something like pollen. People who sneeze when their nose is irritated by pollen have hayfever.

Or, the irritant could be an infection - that's why people sneeze if they have a cold. It could
even be your mum's perfume!

The nerves in your nose send a message to your brain saying that they are irritated. Your brain
then sends a message to your nose, throat and chest, which says sneeze! Your vocal cords
close and build up pressure inside your chest. When your vocal cords open the air rushes out
of your mouth and nose really fast. This gets rid of anything nasty in your nose. Clever!

http://www.planet-science.com/categories/under-11s/our-bodies/2011/11/why-do-we-sneeze.aspx

Eyes are amazing things, so we need to protect them. You make tears every time you blink.
When you blink, the tears spread out in a thin film over your eyeballs. Tears are made in tear
glands on your upper eyelids. The tears flow into your eyes through tiny tear ducts and help to
keep your eyes free things that could irritate them, like dust. Even if you're asleep, tears are still
being produced! Your tears have a tiny bit of salt in them, which is antiseptic and helps to
prevent eye infections. Used tears go down two tiny holes in your upper and lower eyelids to
the back of your nose, where they are swallowed or blown out with your snot!

If something gets in your eye and irritates it, your tear glands make more tears to try and flush
the irritant away. These are reflex tears. If something makes you sad or extra happy, your
tear glands produce emotional tears. If you produce lots of tears, they can't all drain into
your nasal cavity, so they overflow and run down your cheeks.
http://www.planet-science.com/categories/under-11s/our-bodies/2011/09/where-do-tears-come-
from.aspx

Why are pupils sometimes red in pictures?

See the inside of your eye!
Take a look at the pictures above and below.

What do you notice?

That's right, the people in the pictures all have spooky red pupils. Do you know what it is?

It's a picture of the inside of your eye!

Your pupil is an opening that lets light enter your eye. It usually appears black because the
inside of our eye is usually dark. When a camera flash goes off, it can send light into our pupils.
At the back of your eye is the retina. This is a layer of cells that respond to light entering your
eye and tell your brain what you're seeing. Blood vessels behind the retina are red. They cause
the red colour you see in the picture.

Red pupils show the blood vessels behind the retina

So the red eye in your picture is really a picture of the inside of your eye. Pretty exciting, right?

Some nocturnal animals have a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum at the back of
their eye. This helps them to see at night. In photos it looks a strange, silvery colour, like this:
 Nocturnal animals sometimes have 'eyeshine' caused by the tapetum lucidum (c) Niall McAuley

You know what to do next time you see red eyes on a picture. Tell everyone why it happens!

http://www.planet-science.com/categories/under-11s/our-bodies/2011/02/why-are-pupils-sometimes-
red-in-pictures.aspx
Take a look at the picture below.

What do you notice? That's right, the people in the pictures all have spooky red pupils.
Do you know what it is? It's a picture of the inside of your eye!

Your pupil is an opening that lets light enter your eye. It usually appears black because
the inside of our eye is usually dark. When a camera flash goes off, it can send light into our
pupils. At the back of your eye is the retina. This is a layer of cells that respond to light
entering your eye and tell your brain what you're seeing. Blood vessels behind the retina are
red. They cause the red colour you see in the picture. So the red eye in your picture is really a
picture of the inside of your eye. Pretty exciting, right?

Some nocturnal animals have a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum at the back
of their eye. This helps them to see at night. In photos it looks a strange, silvery colour, like
this:

http://www.planet-science.com/categories/under-11s/our-bodies/2011/02/why-are-pupils-sometimes-
red-in-pictures.aspx
Have you ever had brain freeze? Lots of people get it when they eat something frozen. It feels
like a really painful headache. I get it when I eat ice cream!

Researchers realized that people who suffer from migraines - a type of very painful headache -
are more likely to get brain freeze than people who don't get migraines.

The researchers decided to study brain freeze as a way of studying migraines. They asked
volunteers to sip iced water through a straw. Blood flowing through the volunteers' brain was
monitored.

When the volunteers got brain freeze a blood vessel called the anterior cerebral artery
increased in size. This blood vessel is found in the middle of the brain, behind the eyes.

The anterior cerebral artery increased in size because it had more blood flowing through it.

Scientists aren't sure why more blood flows through the anterior cerebral artery when people
get brain freeze. Perhaps it helps to make sure that the brain doesn't get too cold.

Increasing the flow of warm blood through the brain will counteract the cold from the frozen
food or drinks.

When the artery reduced in size, the volunteers felt the pain disappear. It seems like increased
blood flowing through the anterior cerebral artery causes brain freeze.

Increased blood flow through the anterior cerebral artery causes brain freeze

Next time you've got brain freeze, you can think about the extra blood flowing through your
brain!
One way to prevent brain freeze is to stop the cold food or drink touching the roof of your
mouth. This means that your body won't think that your brain is getting cold.

If migraines work in the same way, drugs that constrict blood flow could help to treat them

http://www.planet-science.com/categories/over-11s/human-body/2012/05/ouch!-i%E2%80%99ve-got-
brain-freeze!.aspx

The Invisible Helpers

Could we survive without bacteria?
What is the most abundant cell in the human body? Skin cells? Think again. It's bacteria!

Bacteria living in our body outnumber our own cells by 10 to 1. How many bacterial cells do
we have in total? The number is anything upwards of an amazing 1000 trillion (one trillion =
1,000,000,000,000).

These bacteria, called normal flora, are found everywhere on your body - skin, hair, eyes, teeth
and inside your gut. Your face has 10-100 million bacteria per square centimetre!

Where did these bacteria come from?

As soon as you are born, bacteria from the air, from people and from surfaces that you touch,
start to set up house inside your body. Your diet as a baby and the people you come into
contact with will establish which bacteria take up residence. By the time you are two years old,
you will have developed your own unique collection of normal flora. It's as unique as your
fingerprint!

What do these bacteria do?

The bacteria on our skin and outer surfaces prevent harmful bacteria establishing themselves
and causing an infection, much like how we prevent weeds taking over the good plants in the
garden. Inside our body, the bacteria in our gut produce vitamins - for example some bacteria
produce biotin and Vitamin K, essential for our body. Other bacteria in the large intestine and
colon help us to digest food better and release stored energy.

What do they get in return?

Protection, free heating and lots of free meals!

 Your body is 'home sweet home' for bacteria!

Could we survive without them?

Yes, possibly, but it wouldn't be easy. You would be vulnerable to wide range of infections.
Also, scientists estimate that you would probably have to eat three times as much to gain
energy for maintaining body functions.

Want to see good bacteria in action?

Try this little experiment, which involves making yoghurt using bacteria. These are very
similar to bacteria that are present in our gut.

How can we keep the bacteria happy?

Stress and overuse of antibiotics can disturb the balance of normal flora. A healthy lifestyle, and
a well-balanced diet, with a good proportion of fibre will keep the bacteria smiling all day long.

http://www.planet-science.com/categories/over-11s/human-body/2011/09/the-invisible-helpers.aspx
The Invisible Helpers
What is the most abundant cell in the human body? Skin cells? Think again. It's bacteria!
Bacteria living in our body outnumber our own cells by 10 to 1. How many bacterial cells do
we have in total? The number is anything upwards of an amazing 1000 trillion (one trillion =
1,000,000,000,000). These bacteria, called normal flora, are found everywhere on your body -
skin, hair, eyes, teeth and inside your gut. Your face has 10-100 million bacteria per square
centimeter!

As soon as you are born, bacteria from the air, from people and from surfaces that you
touch, start to set up house inside your body. Your diet as a baby and the people you come
into contact with will establish which bacteria take up residence. By the time you are two years
old, you will have developed your own unique collection of normal flora. It's as unique as your
fingerprint!

The bacteria on our skin and outer surfaces prevent harmful bacteria establishing
themselves and causing an infection, much like how we prevent weeds taking over the good
plants in the garden. Inside our body, the bacteria in our gut produce vitamins - for example
some bacteria produce biotin and Vitamin K, essential for our body. Other bacteria in the large
intestine and colon help us to digest food better and release stored energy.

We could possibly survive without the bacteria, but it wouldn't be easy. You would be
vulnerable to wide range of infections. Also, scientists estimate that you would probably have to
eat three times as much to gain energy for maintaining body functions.

Stress and overuse of antibiotics can disturb the balance of normal flora. A healthy
lifestyle, and a well-balanced diet, with a good proportion of fiber will keep the bacteria smiling
all day long.

http://www.planet-science.com/categories/over-11s/human-body/2011/09/the-invisible-helpers.aspx

1. “You would be vulnerable to wide range of infections.” (Paragraph 4)

What is the synonym of the underlined word?
A. Strong
B. Sensitive
C. Resistant
D. Protected
2. It can be inferred that …