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Posted on 01/30/2006 3:02:26 AM PST by Pharmboy
Earwax may not play a prominent part in human history but at least a small role for it has now been found by a team of Japanese researchers.
Earwax comes in two types, wet and dry. The wet form predominates in Africa and Europe, where 97 percent or more of people have it, and the dry form among East Asians. The populations of South and Central Asia are roughly half and half. By comparing the DNA of Japanese with each type, the researchers were able to identify the gene that controls which type a person has, they report in today's issue of Nature Genetics.
snip
The dry form is quite common in Native Americans, confirming other genetic evidence that their ancestors migrated across the Bering Strait from Siberia 15,000 years ago.
snip
But earwax seems to have the very humble role of being no more than biological flypaper, preventing dust and insects from entering the ear. Since it seems unlikely that having wet or dry earwax could have made much difference to an individual's fitness, the earwax gene may have some other, more important function. Dr. Yoshiura and his colleagues suggest that the gene would have been favored because of its role in sweating.
They write that earwax type and armpit odor are correlated, since populations with dry earwax, such as those of East Asia, tend to sweat less and have little or no body odor, while the wet earwax populations of Africa and Europe sweat more and so may have more body odor. Several Asian features, like small nostrils, are conjectured to be adaptations to the cold. Less sweating, the Japanese authors suggest, may be another adaptation to the cold in which the ancestors of East Asian peoples are thought to have lived.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
No offense, but remind me never to have dinner at your house.
My favorite rascists - the japanese
still making the south africans look like pikers.
Only they would have a study showing the superiority of asian earwax to european and african earwax ( and body odor).
Guess they haven't woke up and smelled the kimshi.
I've read that Indians in the east have a higher incident of 'wet wax' than do Indians in the west.
Quick, alert Bertie Bott!
Mark
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And some folks thought this research would yield no useful products. Imagine - genetically engineered ear wax.
Mine is a thick paste that causes hearing loss at least 4 times a year.
Marginal Genetic Genealogy ping?
NAAAAAAAAHHH
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I would think that PatrickHenry has them on one list...
I think if a person waits long enough between showers all people are created equal in the arm pit smell arena...
Just another way that FR is ahead of the MSM curve...
Kewl! Will start a thread on that story.
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My wife is Korean and always comments on how weird my earwax is..
You know, there are things called Q-tips.
Lawyer-driven-warning notwithstanding, they CAN be inserted into the ear and resolve this issue, so that we can all get along.
LOL! What worries me is that all the wax runs out of my opposite ear.
LOL! Hope that's the worst the cultural clash gets...
Earwax glob Calabi-Yau manifold
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