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