Tracking Contaminants in Whales-Using Their Earwax

摘要

Hold the giant Q-tip: The waxy buildup in a whale's ears may contain interesting data about its exposure to contaminants. A wall of blubber and muscle protects whales' ears from seawater, sealing the wax inside. The wax plugs are made up of laminated layers that can be matched roughly to a whale's age, like tree rings-and those layers can also be the repository of chemi cals from the surrounding ocean. Graduate student Eleanor Robinson, with environmental scientist Sascha Usenko and biolo gist Stephen Trumble, all at Baylor University in Texas, have worked out an analytical method to quantify the compounds sequestered in each wax layer. They use earplugs taken from dead whales (the earwax harvesting must be done posthumously, because marine mammals are protected by U.S. law).