Earwax is genetically linked to your apocrine sweat glands, meaning the type of wax in your ears directly correlates to your specific body odor profile.

A closer look

Earwax is genetically linked to your apocrine sweat glands, meaning the type of wax in your ears directly correlates to your specific body odor profile. People with a specific gene mutation produce dry, flaky earwax and simultaneously lack the protein that bacteria feed on to create awful armpit smells. The fact that geneticists can essentially predict if you need to buy heavy-duty clinical deodorant just by peering into your ear canal is a terrifying invasion of biological privacy. For the rest of us burdened with wet earwax and hyperactive sweat glands, evolution just decided to make us permanently sticky and aggressively fragrant for absolutely no tactical advantage whatsoever