The Nicastro lab studies cilia and flagella, the whip-like tails that propel cells through their watery world. Studying flagellates can show how mucus is cleared from the human trachea, for instance, ...

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.