Although we all know that sneezes and coughs transmit infections, little research had been done to model how they work. To address this knowledge gap, Lydia Bourouiba and John Bush of MIT’s Applied Mathematics Lab used high speed cameras and fluid mechanics to reveal why we’ve grossly underestimated the role of gas clouds in these violent expirations. For more about this work, see Bourouiba research group’s website.
Credits
Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network
Additional Video and Stills by
Lydia Bourouiba, John Bush, Shutterstock, Prelinger Archives, MIT
Related Links
Meet the Producer
About Luke Groskin
@lgroskinLuke Groskin is Science Friday’s video producer. He’s on a mission to make you love spiders and other odd creatures.