Saliva testing

Saliva testing is when somebody spits into a small container so that scientists can figure out information about their body. Saliva is the stuff that comes out of your mouth when you chew your food or when you talk.

When somebody spits into the container, scientists can see what kinds of things are in their saliva. They can tell if somebody has been smoking or using drugs, for example. They can also look at some other things, like the hormones in somebody's body. Hormones are chemicals that help our bodies work and grow properly.

The really neat thing about saliva testing is that it is easy and not painful! All you have to do is spit in the container and send it to a lab where somebody will look at it under the microscope. It's kind of like giving somebody a picture of your insides, only instead of drawing with crayons, they're looking at your spit!