February 15, 2014

"Earwax is a neglected body secretion whose potential as an information source has yet to be explored."

"Our previous research has shown that underarm odors can convey a great deal of information about an individual, including personal identity, gender, sexual orientation and health status."
"We think it possible that earwax may contain similar information."...

"In essence, we could obtain information about a person's ethnicity simply by looking in his ears.... While the types of odorants were similar, the amounts were very different."...

"Odors in earwax may be able to tell us what a person has eaten and where they have been."
What does the earwax say?

18 comments:

rhhardin said...

Mostly we get it from bees' ears.

Anonymous said...

Semen Can Tell You a Lot About Sexual Preferences, Depending on the Mouth it is In.

Bob Boyd said...

"Our previous research has shown that underarm odors can convey a great deal of information about..... gender..."

I sniffed and sniffed, but I still can't update my Facebook page.

madAsHell said...

My 88 year old mother uses vodka to remove ear wax.

F said...

Mad as hell: How much does she have to drink before the wax comes out?

Bob Boyd said...

Is there such a thing as an EWTD?

For example, can you get hearing AIDS from sharing ear plugs?

Big Mike said...

What does the earwax say?

Mine doesn't say anything. It just blocks me from hearing what other people say.

Which is usually a good thing.

NCMoss said...

Ctrl-W

lemondog said...

Neglected indeed.

NOTHING need go to waste!!!

HOW TO SMOKE EARWAX!!!

Who needs marijuana. Can the Fed bust you for cultivating your own earwax?

Earwax is not a part of The Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act.

Birth of another industry.

traditionalguy said...

"She doth wax weak... " is a favorite Shakespearean phrase. The Fifteenth a Century writer guys were always talking about women waxing this and that.

chickelit said...

Cerumen protects the organ of aural intercourse.

Anonymous said...

The vlog brothers, who do Crash Course, had something on earwax iirc... If it was wet, you were more likely to be genetically smelly. If it was the dry kind, not so much.

gadfly said...

More interesting is the question of whether I am right-eared of left-eared. I have to listen to the telephone using my left ear because of some hearing impairment in the right ear. At the same time my right ear excretes far more ear wax than the left.

From a political standpoint, I am unsure as to what what any of this means.

B said...

From a political standpoint, I am unsure as to what what any of this means.

It is considered simply another instance of sexual assault in the ear on women.

Eric Jablow said...

Chemist Dylan Stiles once wrote a post about the time he took a TLC of his earwax. See reports here: http://boingboing.net/2006/08/08/scientist-analyzes-t.html and http://archive.tenderbutton.com/?p=187.

Sam L. said...

And, for good reason!

Bob Loblaw said...

In essence, we could obtain information about a person's ethnicity simply by looking in his ears...

Or by looking at, you know, his face.

kentuckyliz said...

I know how to test for recent asparagus consumption.