Okay, so ever since high school, I have been intrigued by the fact that when I have a cold and my nose is stopped up, I can go to sleep at night with one nostril clogged and then wake up with the other one clogged. I once mentioned this to a friend (during a random conversation about colds) and he told me that it was because nostrils switch. I was sure he was BSing me--as many people do in an effort to take advantage of my occasionally naive personality--but the idea that this was a possibility never left my mind. Somehow, it didn't occur to me that I should just look it up until last night. Here are my findings:
Apparently, ol' dude was right; humans' nostrils switch several times during the day. In fact, they do it every three to four hours: one nostril "closes and rests" while the other is busy smelling and breathing.
A small tissue called the turbinate dangles in each nostril, controlling air flow. It seems that one can see this tissue simply by looking up someone's nose (I have not tried this yet).
Another incredibly random fact:
Each human nose has small traces of aluminum in it (found in the part right between the eyes), which serves as a "rudimentary compass to help in directional finding relative to the earth's magnetic field." Many people are able to use this just as they may use a compass to orient themselves. FREAKS! lol...j/k...wonder if sex plays a part here...hmm...
Sources:
Milius, S. (1999). Each nostril smells the world differently. Science News, 156 (19): 293
Rhodes, J., Wenner, A. M., & Weiss, R. (1990). Signals, symbols and scent. Science News, 137 (2): 19-31.
You remember pork, the other white meat hehe
ReplyDeletei knew it!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading that men tend to have more aluminum in their cavity, actually it wasn't a book, it was an episode of 'Tool Time' and Wilson said it to Tim explaining why he refused to stop for directions lol
ReplyDelete