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Ask Dr. Universe Nursing
University Communications Network > Ask Dr. Universe > Academic Subjects > Health Sciences > Nursing

Why is snot green? – William, 7, United Kingdom

Dear William,

There are lots of unpleasant things about being sick. Leaking slimy green snot is near the top of my yuck list.

I talked about it with my friend Linda Eddy. She’s a nurse for kids. She runs the nursing program on the Vancouver campus of Washington State University.

She told me that snot is normally clear. It turns yellow or green when our bodies fight germs that can make us sick.

Snot is also called mucus. It’s a thin, slippery liquid that covers many of the surfaces inside our bodies. You can find mucus in your nose, mouth and eyes. It … » More …

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What happens if we drink too much water? – Joseph, 7, United Kingdom

Dear Joseph,

As an early-rising science cat, I always lap up a bowl of coffee in the morning. After that, I drink fresh water from a cat fountain I keep near my desk.

But what if I drink too much of that thirst-quenching liquid?

I asked my friend Karen Anders if that can happen. She teaches nursing at Washington State University.

She told me that drinking too much water can cause a rare condition called water intoxication.

It’s rare because it doesn’t happen very often. Even if you guzzle lots of water, your kidneys can probably process it. You might feel sloshy and waterlogged. You might throw up, but then you’d just pee the excess water out of your body.

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How do people get ear infections? – Lydia, 9, Illinois

Dear Lydia,

Ear infections aren’t fun. They can make your ears hot, itchy or painful. They can cause lots of pressure or make it harder to hear. Sometimes fluid leaks out of your ear.

I asked my friend Bevan Briggs why that happens. He’s a nurse practitioner and professor at Washington State University.

He told me people usually get outer ear or middle ear infections.

Your outer ear includes the flappy part attached to your head—called the auricle or pinna. It also includes the ear canal. That’s the tunnel that goes into your head. At the end of the ear canal, there’s a thin, flexible barrier of tissue called the eardrum. That’s the boundary between your outer ear and your middle ear.

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Why do we get rashes on our skin? – Claire, 9, Virginia

Dear Claire,

I’ve been allergic to fleas ever since I was a kitten. Flea bites give me an itchy, red rash.

I talked about why that happens with my friend Bevan Briggs. He’s a nurse practitioner and professor at Washington State University. Nurse practitioners are nurses with advanced training. They diagnose illnesses, order tests and prescribe medicine.

Briggs told me that often rashes happen when the immune system gets turned on. The immune system is the body’s defense system.

“It's the way our body tries to protect us from germs and poisons,” he said. “Rashes happen because your immune system identifies something as foreign—either an infective agent or some kind of toxin.”

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Why do you get acne? – Joey, 12, Illinois

Dear Joey,

Whether we call them pimples, spots or zits, acne is something most people experience. As many as 95% of people have some acne sometime. That’s nearly everybody.

I talked about acne with my friend Sarah Fincham. She has a clinical doctorate in nursing. She’s a nurse and a professor in the College of Nursing at Washington State University.

If you look at your skin, you’ll see tiny openings called pores. These pores connect to oil-producing glands under our skin. They’re called sebaceous glands, and the oil they make is called sebum.

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Dr. Universe: Why do we have a belly button? – Jane, 9, Kennewick, WA

Whether you have an innie or an outie, pretty much all us mammals have a belly button. But before you had a belly button, there was actually a different bit of anatomy in its place. While you were still growing inside of your mother, a small, bendy tube on your tummy connected the two of you. This tube is how you got pretty much everything you needed to grow before you were born into the world. Read More ...

Dr. Universe: Why are there different blood types? - Sarah, Tacoma, Wash.

Dear Sarah,

At this very moment, several quarts of blood are circulating through your body at nearly 4 mph. But as you’ve pointed out, not everyone’s blood is the same.

Your question made me wonder exactly what we mean when we talk about blood types. I decided to ask my friend Amber Fyfe-Johnson, a researcher at Washington State University who studies cardiovascular diseases--diseases of the blood vessels-- in kids.

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