What is this stuff?
ChEARio mates, Trace ear for DNews.
Earwax is weird and gross, it's basically congealed ear sweat.
There are two kinds of sweat: most is cooling watery sweat, but some is thicker smellier
sweat -- which shows up in the armpit and ear.
Earwax isn't really wax, it's mostly dead skin cells, proteins and oils added by the
apocrine gland.
The junk is in there to protect the inner ear from water or infection, as a foothold
for bacteria.
Earwax fights off some diseases and can lubricate and protect the ear from infection and water.
It's a pretty common system of protection in mammals.
The wax builds up over time, and in some species can reveal a lot about their past.
Late last year, researchers at Baylor University used the earwax of a blue whale to reveal
when it went through puberty, which years it was able to find ample food, and when pollutants
like mercury were introduced to the whale's environment.
Whale earwax isn't quite the same as human earwax, but based on studies like this, current
research is exploring what earwax can teach us!
This week a study of human cerumen -- the medical term for earwax -- dove into the stuff
nose first and found the smell of your earwax can give away your ancestry!
Caucasian earwax smells stronger than East Asian or Native Americans!
Research published in the Journal of Chromatography B explored the ABCC11 gene, which affects
sweat, and thus earwax, in humans.
The type commonly found in Caucasians creates a stickier earwax and more stinky body odor,
while the type in East Asians creates dryer, flakier earwax and less stinky body odor.
It's not that the odors themselves are different, it's that the volatile compounds in the earwax
are in different amounts.
Volatile compounds are the tiny particles we sense when we're smell something.
Knowing this, scientists can use earwax, not only to tell ethnicity, but in the future
they're going to try to follow those researching the whale wax and see what secrets your ear
wax holds.
There are diseases that leave traces in ear wax once they appear in the body.
It might even catalog what you've eaten, or where you've been!
Doctors of the future might be able to diagnose a possible immune system invader, or health
risk, with a digital sniff of your earwax...
Now, your cerumen is protecting you from infection, lubricating your ears, and keeping a health
record for your doctor, but even knowing ALL THAT, there are those of you who will totally
want to get rid of it.
Firstly, don't use a cotton swab.
Not in the EAR CANAL.
Outer ear?
Knock yourself out.
Inner ear.
NO.
Sometimes, when you poke around in there with cotton swabs, you're actually INCREASING earwax
buildup, mushing it together and causing blockages!
Stop it.
Oh, and ear candling is silly and gross.
Studies show it doesn't work and it's not recommended.
If you REALLY want to get rid of it, talk to the pharmacist.
They've got drops you can buy.
But why would you want to?
That stuff is great!
Did we change your opinion on earwax?
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Hit me up @trace501!
See you around!