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Nature's Faulty Wires: The Sun Sneeze!

A horse sneezing!
A horse sneezing!
Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Click here for the license
A giraffe sneezing... That was a big sneeze!
A giraffe sneezing... That was a big sneeze!
Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Click here for the license

Do you ever sneeze when you suddenly look at a bright light? This is called the 'photic sneeze reflex'. It's like having 'leaky' insulation on your body's wires.

Nature's Example:

The 'wire' from your eye (the optic nerve) sends a big electrical signal to your brain when it sees bright light. This nerve runs very close to the 'wire' that controls your nose (the trigeminal nerve). In some people, the insulation around these nerves is a bit leaky, and the big 'light' signal sparks across and hits the 'sneeze' nerve by accident, making you go... ACHOO!

💡 Fun Facts

  • This only happens to about 1 in 4 people.
  • It's sometimes nicknamed 'ACHOO Syndrome', which stands for 'Autosomal Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst'!
  • This shows how important insulation (called a myelin sheath) is for keeping our body's electrical signals on the right path.