Black lung is a type of lung disease that’s caused by long-term inhalation of coal mine dust. The condition is also known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP) or miner’s lung. The disease has a long ...

Understanding the Context

USA Today: The Lung Disease Most Americans Don’t Know They’re at Risk For For most Americans, the letters "NTM" don’t mean anything. But for tens of thousands of people across the country, they represent something serious: a chronic lung disease that’s often overlooked, ... Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an infection that affects your lungs, nose, throat, and breathing passages. You get it when infected droplets enter your nose, eyes, or mouth.

Key Insights

This might happen ... What Are Lungs? Your lungs are a pair of organs that are the main part of your respiratory system, a network of structures and tissues that allow you to breathe. They pull air into your body so your tissues can get oxygen. Humans have two lungs, a right lung and a left lung.

Final Thoughts

They are situated within the thoracic cavity of the chest. The right lung is bigger than the left, and the left lung shares space in the chest with the heart. The lungs together weigh approximately 1.3 kilograms (2.9 lb), and the right is heavier. Lung, in air-breathing vertebrates, either of the two large organs of respiration located in the chest cavity and responsible for adding oxygen to and removing carbon dioxide from the blood. The lungs are soft, light, spongy, elastic organs that normally, after birth, always contain air. Your lungs are an essential part of the respiratory system that work together to help you breathe.

Learn how your lungs work and how to keep your lungs and yourself healthy.