When stuff we drink “goes down the wrong pipe”, when we’ve had a small buildup of anything in our lungs (such as pus), when we inhale dusty air, our lungs somehow eventually rids itself of some things. How does that happen?
In: Biology
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Our lungs are lined with little hairs (“cilia”) that wriggle together like the wave in a sports stadium. The wave pushes the phlegm in the lungs and anything embedded in it up to where it can be coughed out.
Smoking screws up the little hairs, which is why smoking, a carcinogen itself, is also a multiplier for other lung carcinogens (notably radon and asbestos).
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