00:04Sneezing is a very mammalian thing. We all do it. But experts now say the sneeze has been around far
00:09longer than anyone ever thought.
00:11According to a new study by researchers at the University of Amsterdam, the first sneezer was likely a sponge.
00:16And it likely first rang out hundreds of millions of years ago.
00:19Sneezing is a good way to purge the respiratory system of anything that's getting in the way of breathing.
00:23But in these ancient sponges, it's less for breathing and more a way to expel any waste the organism might
00:28not need.
00:28Here's how Jasper DeHoy, one of the marine biologists working on this study, explains it.
00:33Sponges don't sneeze like humans do. A sponge sneeze takes about half an hour to complete.
00:37But both sponge and human sneezes exist as a waste disposal mechanism.
00:41Sponges have an internal filtration system that captures bacteria while allowing food to pass through.
00:46Afterwards, they need to get rid of all of that. And the research team working on the project were actually
00:50able to capture it on film.
00:52Revealing the sponges sneezing mucus, just like us, to get rid of whatever other debris they didn't need.
00:57And according to the team, these epically ancient sneezers have likely been doing this for some 600 million years.
01:03So, how does that support this logic model?
