Mary Roach

Saliva has antibacterial properties. It also has things called nerve growth factor, skin growth factor, histatins which help with wound closure. So when you see an animal licking a wound or even a mom kissing a child's boo-boo, there's some, there's some good science behind why one might do this.

American Author

Joshua Foer

All across Africa, the Pacific and the Americas, we find cultures that didn't know about mouth kissing until their first contact with European explorers. And the attraction was not always immediately apparent. Most considered the act of exchanging saliva revolting.

American Journalist

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

The perception of juiciness involves a complex jumble of things, including how quickly juices are squeezed out of meat fibers by our teeth, how much saliva we produce, and the ratio of liquid fat to water-based liquid.

American Chef

Ivan Pavlov

Edible substances evoke the secretion of thick, concentrated saliva. Why? The answer, obviously, is that this enables the mass of food to pass smoothly through the tube leading from the mouth into the stomach.

Russian Psychologist

Leonardo DiCaprio

The first kiss I had was the most disgusting thing in my life. The girl injected about a pound of saliva into my mouth, and when I walked away I had to spit it all out.

American Actor

Elizabeth Blackburn

We're involved in a very large study that's federally funded and being done with Kaiser Permanente, and saliva is a very non-invasive way to get cells from the body.

Australian Scientist

Jesse Ventura

I love fat people. Every fat person says it's not their fault, that they have gland trouble. You know which gland? The saliva gland.

American Politician

Ryan White

Rumors of sneezing, kissing, tears, sweat, and saliva spreading AIDS caused people to panic.

American Celebrity

Helen Fisher

Saliva has testosterone and estrogen. When you kiss, you're having a chemical experience.

American Scientist

George Carlin

Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.

American Comedian

Saliva has a key role in digestion and oral health, necessary for starting to break down food.

Bodily Function

Dry mouth can signal dehydration; saliva keeps your mouth moist and comfortable.

Hydration Indicator

Saliva helps neutralize acids and protects teeth from bacteria, which can prevent tooth decay.

Dental Health

 including our own. There are actually thousands of species of mosquitos in the world, but they all share one insidious they suck blood, and they're really, really good at sucking blood. Here's how they do it. After landing, a mosquito will slather some saliva onto the victim's skin, which works like an antiseptic,

The loathsome, lethal...

 Exosomes are important biomarkers that provide an early-warning system for the development of cancer. And because they're abundantly present in just about every bodily fluid, including blood, urine and saliva, they're extremely attractive for noninvasive liquid biopsies.

New nanotech to detect...

 gut how does it end up at a saliva gland where it actually becomes infectious to give you a view of a parasite site how a parasite feels when it goes through an insect cut here is a very short clip this is the giant fly this is the proboscis this is the actual pump that

Encouraging curiosity-dri...

 Fortunately, while Ebola is highly virulent, several factors limit its contagiousness. Unlike viruses that proliferate through small, airborne particles, Ebola only exists in bodily fluids, such as saliva, blood, mucus, vomit, or feces. In order to spread,

What we know (and don't...

 saliva samples showed an increase in testosterone in those who had smelled a shirt worn by an ovulating woman. Such a testosterone boost may give a man the nudge to pursue a woman he might not have otherwise noticed. A woman's nose is particularly attuned

The science of...

 If she is killed, the entire colony will die out. She must be protected, so termites start to isolate her from the fighting by building a wall of mud mixed with saliva that will harden like concrete. There's not much time.

Defending the ant nest...

 but vampire bats can be a great help to humans. A chemical known as desmoteplase found in vampire bat saliva helps break down blood clots, and is being tested by recovering stroke victims.

The truth about bats -...

 to hide all the time saliva actually helps it a lot of people don't get to do stuff like this anymore everybody used to do this everybody used to work on hides that was just normal

Caribou Blanket PIPE Life...

 And at the moment of death, he shared its pain. He rubs its saliva into his own legs to relieve the agony of his burning muscles. And he gives thanks for the life he has taken,

The Intense 8 Hour Hunt...

 razor-sharp teeth and germ-laden saliva can inflict life-threatening wounds but water monitors rarely bite humans the reaction to these latter day