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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? Tell us on below in the comments and subscribe
for more videos seven days a week. Hit me up @trace501! See you around!