Surfactant prevents this collapse by reducing the surface tension of the fluids that line the lungs and helping to equalize the pressures between large and small air spaces. Surface tension is a measure of the attraction molecules of a fluid have for each other.
Buffalo Bill Cody, who later became famous for his Wild West Show, was a rider for the Pony Express and wrote of his experiences. We join Bill's story as he is hired - at the age of 15 - to ride a section of the trail that lies in modern-day Wyoming:
The infamous Old West outlaw was first arrested at 16. At the age of 18, he shot and killed a man during an altercation at an army camp in Arizona. At 21, he was killed â shot by sheriff Pat Garrett â and the man forever known as Billy the Kid was laid to rest in Fort Sumner, N.M. Then again, maybe he wasnât.