Thanks to the latest research into violent expiratory events — or, sneezes — we can now observe in very close detail the "turbulent multiphase cloud" which distributes a payload of droplets and mucosalivary ligaments, or, well, stringy gobs of spit, at high speeds and over great distances.
These gross but engrossing images are made possible by highly sensitive, slow-motion cameras which can track each single speck of snot.
This is high-tech stuff, but the fascination with sneezing and the attempt to capture and examine the sneeze is actually as old as the moving image itself.
This short film, known as Fred Ott's Sneeze, was recorded in 1894 to test a new moving picture machine called the Kinetoscope.
This five-second long film, showing Fred Ott taking a pinch of snuff and then sneezing, captured the imagination of a public who were wowed by the idea that something as fast as a sneeze could now be captured, preserved, and repeated.
Of course, sneezes were also an object of fascination long before the cinema.
For the ancient Greeks, sneezes could be an omen from the gods.
According to one ancient Roman doctor, sneezing during sex could be used as a contraceptive.
But the most common interpretation of a sneeze is probably that you might be getting ill.
But it was not until the late 19th Century that the idea that infectious diseases can be caused by microscopic pathogens was introduced.
