Do you hear what I hear?

I am always interested and amused by strange research. Having been a lowly PhD student for a *ahem* few years, I have run across all sorts of interesting (to put it mildly) research - things I have read in journals, seen at conferences, read in newsclippings, etc. And in seeing all the different things being researched, I have become convinced that ANYTHING will be funded as long as there is one person interested.

Genetics has always produced a great deal of interesting work, especially recently with the "completion" of the Human Genome Project. Completion is a relative term, because even though the genome is mapped, people are still trying to figure out what these genes do. (I personally don't believe the project is truly complete until they figure that portion of it out... but I digress.) Anyway, with a map of genes available, geneticists have been able to determine such important things such as the genes which, when mutated, could cause cancer.

So when I saw a news article entitled, "Scientists Find Gene That Controls Type of Earwax in People," my interest was a little more than peaked. Who researches this kind of thing? Why earwax? There are apparently two types of earwax - wet and dry (who knew?) - which are controlled by a specific gene. According to researchers, a single DNA change causes the inactivation of an export mechanism in cells, therefore resulting in dry earwax. Wet earwax is prevalent in the African and European populations, while dry earwax is dominant in East Asians. There is also apparently a correlation between the type of earwax, sweat and armpit odor, where those who have dry earwax tend to have sweat less and have little to no body odor. Eeeen-ter-est-ink

What does this mean for the rest of us? What can we do with this information? Who the heck knows. Maybe at some point there will be gene therapy for people with really bad BO. I think that would be a great step forward for humanity. It will at least make riding in a packed subway a little less gross.