Ear wax helps record pollution

Scientists extracted ear wax from the carcass of a blue whale that washed ashore a California beach in 2007. After collection, the wax was preserved – the column of wax was about 30cm long. The differing light and dark layers within the column each corresponded to about 6 months of the whale’s life, allowing the scientists to determine when the animal was exposed to particular chemicals. This particular whale had been exposed to high levels of DDT in the early stages of its life, probably through its mother’s milk. 

To get more data, co-author Sascha Usenko has requested that scientists start collecting ear wax from dead beached whales the world over and mail the samples to him.

Paper in PNAS: http://bit.ly/15CXvrp