Hello, Explorer. Welcome to a brand new year of your genius questions. It's time for the Fun Kids Science Midweekly. My name is Dan. Thank you so much for being there. It's 2026 more of the fantastic midweekly shows. I wonder what we can do this year. Well, I want loads more of your questions sent in as voice notes on the free Fun Kids app and at FunKidsLive.com, please. That way, I know what you're thinking. I'll do the digging and you can star in the show. Also, last year you might remember, we did a fantastic tour all around the UK. Who knows where we're going this year, what's happening?

Well, this is the greatest podcast in the universe,

so I'm hoping maybe we can get to Mercury.

A little too close to the sun.

I'll take Mars.

Anyway, your questions, please, to the three fun kids app.

That way they can start in the show like this from Raphael.

Hello, my name is Raphael and I want to know.

When you sneeze, why do you close your eyes?

Raphael, thank you for that.

So there are a few ideas about why we close our eyes when we sneeze.

The general science is all to do with your nervous system.

That controls what you

do and what you feel and it happens lightning quick when you move your arm, when you blink,

when you cough, when you breathe. That's all happening without you really thinking about it.

So, your brain sends a message to your nose saying, we need to get rid of everything in your nostrils right now.

Maybe there is some bacteria.

Maybe there's some dust in there that wants to get in.

So you shoot it out, you do a big sneeze.

At the same time, it sends a message to your eyes to blink.

Experts that think that it's so whatever you're sneezing out of your body doesn't get back

in through your eyes. That's pretty wise, isn't it? If you're shooting out an intruder, you don't want

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