This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: What has the consistency of both toothpaste and dough, can absorb twice its weight in water and still remain sticky, was used by medieval artists as a binder in paint and has been hypothesized by physicians to repel insects? The medical term for earwax is cerumen, based on keros, the Greek word for beeswax.
People have been pondering earwax since ancient times. Ancient hygiene kits including picks and spoons to remove earwax have been found in archaeological sites worldwide. Even today, it remains a perpetual question: To remove or not to remove your earwax?
The general medical belief is that ears are self-cleaning, and earwax brings benefits such as lubricating the ear canal, fighting infection and acting like a sticky net to trap debris before it reaches the eardrum. By poking in there you can accidentally make matters worse, pushing wax deeper or scratching your delicate ear canal. Cerumen impaction—or blocked earwax—affects about a fifth of the American population, leading to 12 million patient visits per year.
Blockages are worsened by daily activities such as wearing earbuds or hearing aids. Another common problem with ears is wedged debris. For children, much of this is self-inflicted, in the form of items such as Legos or erasers.
But for many adults who have something stuck in their ear, the debris is insects, such as ants, beetles, flies or cockroaches. While rare for the average person, insects in the ear occurred with such frequency over the years that physicians began to wonder whether earwax evolved as a natural barrier for insects. But how would such a barrier work?
To answer this question, my Ph.D. student David Ancalle led experiments with earwax and insects. We teamed up with Yuhang Hu and her student Donjing He, experts in the behavior of soft solids such as hydrogels. As mechanical engineers, we wanted to focus on the physics rather than the chemistry of earwax.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
