hiccup

Scientists finally think they may be able to explain why we get the hiccups. French researchers think it may be because our ancient ancestors lived in the sea and had gills. Scientists have been searching for the reason we hiccup for hundreds of years, because it doesn?t seem to have any purpose. If hiccups were supposed to keep food or fluid out of the lungs, they would be a cough-like response, not an intake of breath. Hiccups are sudden contractions of the muscles used for breathing in. Just after the muscles start to move, the glottis (which keeps the food out of our airway) shuts off the windpipe to produce a “hic.” Ultrasound scans show that two-month-old babies hiccup in the womb, before they breathe.
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