According to the American Lung Association, lung function can start to improve as soon as you quit. Quitting smoking can lead ...

For a long time, almost all attention was on the motile cilia because their function was readily observable. But scientists, starting with Alexander Kowalevsky had reported the presence of single ...

Shallow breathing, particularly through the mouth, tends to create thicker, more adhesive mucus that resists the natural clearing mechanisms of your bronchial cilia, the tiny hair-like structures ...

Mariella is an assistant editor at The Scientist. She has a background in neuroscience, and her work has appeared in Drug Discovery News and Massive Science. View Full Profile. Learn about our ...

These include: changing the function of the lungs affecting the lungs’ structure ... Tiny hairs in the airways, called cilia, prevent dirt and mucus from getting into the lungs.

They observed that the cilia contained motor proteins that are responsible for active motion in so-called motile cilia, the kind known to wiggle that are only observed in the lungs ... respond to it ...

Cilia are small hairs which beat to push the mucus back up the trachea so it can be swallowed and destroyed in the stomach. Clean air then enters the two bronchi, one bronchus going to each lung.

Smoking damages the airways, air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs, and cilia, which are tiny hair-like structures that prevent dirt and mucus from entering your lungs. Withdrawal from tobacco products ...