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