Hard and crusty. Green and gloopy. Clear and watery. Boogers come in a veritable rainbow of colors and a full spectrum of textures from liquid to solid. They’re really quite impressive if you think about it. Which, of course, few of us do, besides adding tissues to our shopping list or cursing the dagger-like boogers that emerge during a trip to a particularly dry locale. But boogers deserve a lot more credit, and this episode is our attempt at righting that wrong. What are boogers, and what purpose do they serve? How long have handkerchiefs been around, and when did mucus evolve? How many of us are nose-pickers, and how do other species deal with their boogers? More stuffed with snot facts than a nose during flu season, this episode has all the best tidbits to share at your next dinner party.
| History | Biology |
| Bakshani, Cassie R., et al. “Evolutionary conservation of the antimicrobial function of mucus: a first defence against infection.” npj Biofilms and Microbiomes 4.1 (2018): 14. | Fahy, J.V. and Dickey, B.F., 2010. Airway mucus function and dysfunction. New England journal of medicine, 363(23), pp.2233-2247. |
| Balzer, Wolfgang, and Anastassia Eleftheriadis. “A reconstruction of the hippocratic humoral theory of health.” Journal for General Philosophy of Science 22.2 (1991): 207-227. | Sahin-Yilmaz, A. and Naclerio, R.M., 2011. Anatomy and physiology of the upper airway. Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society, 8(1), pp.31-39. |
| Bergey, Elizabeth A., et al. “Messages in the mucus: Selection of land snail resting sites based on the presence of mucus from conspecifics and other species.” Invertebrate Biology 142.2 (2023): e12407. | Beule, A.G., 2010. Physiology and pathophysiology of respiratory mucosa of the nose and the paranasal sinuses. GMS current topics in otorhinolaryngology, head and neck surgery, 9, pp.Doc07-Doc07. |
| Curtis, Valerie. “Hygiene: how myths, monsters, and mothers-in-law can promote behaviour change.” Journal of Infection 43.1 (2001): 75-79. | Hill, D.B., Button, B., Rubinstein, M. and Boucher, R.C., 2022. Physiology and pathophysiology of human airway mucus. Physiological Reviews, 102(4), pp.1757-1836. |
| Curtis, Valerie. “Why disgust matters.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366.1583 (2011): 3478-3490. | Bateman Jr, M.T., Brunton, S. and Wright, W.L., 2025. Guaifenesin and dextromethorphan for management of cough and mucus-related cold symptoms in adults: a narrative literature review. Postgraduate Medicine, 137(8), pp.741-755. |
| Fabre, A‐C., et al. “A review of nose picking in primates with new evidence of its occurrence in Daubentonia madagascariensis.” Journal of Zoology 319.2 (2023): 91-98. | Parra-Ferro, M., Justice, J.M., Lobo, B.C., Munger, S.D., Schlosser, R.J. and Mulligan, J.K., 2022. Utilization of nasal mucus to investigate the pathophysiology of chronic rhinosinusitis. American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy, 36(6), pp.872-883. |
| Fudge, Douglas S., et al. “Composition, morphology and mechanics of hagfish slime.” Journal of Experimental Biology 208.24 (2005): 4613-4625. | Andrade, C. and Srihari, B.S., 2001. A preliminary survey of rhinotillexomania in an adolescent sample. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 62(6), pp.426-431. |
| Hamer, Sarah A., et al. “Coincident tick infestations in the nostrils of wild chimpanzees and a human in Uganda.” The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 89.5 (2013): 924. | Wertheim, H.F., Van Kleef, M., Vos, M.C., Ott, A., Verbrugh, H.A. and Fokkens, W., 2006. Nose picking and nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 27(8), pp.863-867. |
| Haslam, Michael, and Tiago Falótico. “Nasal probe and toothpick tool use by a wild female bearded capuchin (Sapajus libidinosus).” Primates 56.3 (2015): 211-214. | Lavell, A.A., Tijdink, J., Buis, D.T., Smulders, Y.M., Bomers, M.K. and Sikkens, J.J., 2023. Why not to pick your nose: Association between nose picking and SARS-CoV-2 incidence, a cohort study in hospital health care workers. Plos one, 18(8), p.e0288352. |
| Jefferson, James W., and Trent D. Thompson. “Rhinotillexomania: psychiatric disorder or habit?.” The Journal of clinical psychiatry 56.2 (1995): 56-59. | |
| Jordan, John O. “The purloined handkerchief.” Dickens Studies Annual 18 (1989): 1-17. | |
| Jung, Yeonsu, et al. “Avian mud nest architecture by self-secreted saliva.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118.3 (2021): e2018509118. | |
| Mandel, Barrett John. “Bogey.” (1965): 15-29. | |
| Mirabella, Bella. “Embellishing Herself with a Cloth: The Contradictory Life of the Handkerchief.” Ornamentalism: The Art of Renaissance Accessories (2011): 59-82. | |
| Nishida, Toshisada, and Miho Nakamura. “Chimpanzee tool use to clear a blocked nasal passage.” Folia primatologica (1993). | |
| Pajic, Petar, et al. “A mechanism of gene evolution generating mucin function.” Science advances 8.34 (2022): eabm8757. | |
| Phelan, C. A. “NASAL CATARRH.” California State Journal of Medicine 19.2 (1921): 81. | |
| Portalatín, María Jesús. “15. EATING SNOT.” Consuming the Inedible: Neglected Dimensions of Food Choice 5 (2007): 177. | |
| Proctor, Donald F. “The nose, ambient air, and airway mucosa. A pathway in physiology.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 48.3 (1974): 352-376. | |
| Reverter, Miriam, et al. “Biological and ecological roles of external fish mucus: a review.” Fishes 3.4 (2018): 41. | |
| Seltzer, Albert P. “Nose picking.” Journal of the National Medical Association 55.5 (1963): 451. | |
| Sepahi, Ali, and Irene Salinas. “The evolution of nasal immune systems in vertebrates.” Molecular Immunology 69 (2016): 131-138. | |
| Shephard, Kerry L. “Functions for fish mucus.” Reviews in fish biology and fisheries 4.4 (1994): 401-429. | |
| Stow, George B. “Richard II and the Invention of the Pocket Handkerchief.” Albion 27.2 (1995): 221-235. | |
| Tacchi, Luca, et al. “Nasal immunity is an ancient arm of the mucosal immune system of vertebrates.” Nature communications 5.1 (2014): 5205. | |
| Taylor, Miles. “The origin and functions of nasal mucus.” The Laryngoscope 84.4 (1974): 612-636. | |
| Walton, Gerald A. “A tick infesting the nostrils of man.” Nature 188.4756 (1960): 1131-1132. | |
| https://www.kleenex.com/en-us/about-us/our-history |
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