What’s the weirdest thing you’ve heard today? Well, this is
weirder. Scientists at Baylor University in Texas are using the
earwax from whales to study contaminants in the ocean. It all
got started when a student asked her professor how to tell a
whale’s age. The professor – while on his way to Starbucks for a
cup of coffee – came up with the idea of analyzing earwax
collected over a whale’s lifetime, which the professor knew
acted like the rings in a tree trunk. This very smart professor
then came up with the idea of analyzing other stuff that
collects in a whale’s ear, such as ocean pollutants. Thus was
born a new way to study how ocean water is changing over time.
The Baylor educators have been finding a lot of man-made
pesticides that apparently have flowed into the seas. To learn
more, read this article from The Baylor Lariat.