For Real! Tween Science

Summer 2015

Apparently, there is more to the ear than meets the eye. Earwax, known also as cerumen, is a combination of sweat and oily matter from glands beneath the skin of the ear canal. Doctors already knew that earwax keeps your ears healthy by preventing bugs from crawling into the ear canal and keeping bacteria and fungi from entering the ear. But now they are learning more. The type of earwax you have depends on your ethnicity: People of East Asian or Native American descent tend to have dry, flaky, whiteish earwax, while people of European and African descent have wet, sticky, yellow-brown earwax. Why? It all has to do with your genes. “It’s like having thin or thick hair: Both types of earwax get the job done,” says Pitt ENT doc Barry Hirsch.

And earwax composition can reveal even more about you: A syrupy smell might indicate a disease called maple syrup urine disease. Some chemists now believe earwax may be able to communicate what you eat and where you’ve been.

Regardless of its telltale potential, earwax helps the ear function and stay healthy. So for the love of your ears, skip the cotton swabs.

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Image | Yusuke Tadika/EYEEM/Getty Images