The Naked Scientist's Answer to the Question of the Week

When I cycle my bike in cold weather, my nose runs. Why is this and is there anything I can do to help with it? We turned to the Naked Scientist Forum to dig out an answer. This common condition our cyclist is describing is known as skiers nose or cold induced rhinorrhea. It's more likely to suffer from this if you have hay fever or asthma. The nose is like an air conditioning unit for the lungs. There are two reasons for experiencing a runny nose when the air is cold and dry. Cold dry air requires a greater amount of heating and humidification to protect the lungs. When saturated humid air hits the cold temperatures towards the nostril, water