David S Ancalle, Dongjing He, Zachary D Wagner, Joseph Nehme-Haily, Rachel Clark, Thomas W Jeyakumar, Luke Maran, Charles L Finn, Ethan Morlu, Rafeen Rahaman, Ryan Yao, Yolande Berta, Alexis C Noel, Yuhang Hu, David L Hu
{"title":"Earwax as pest control.","authors":"David S Ancalle, Dongjing He, Zachary D Wagner, Joseph Nehme-Haily, Rachel Clark, Thomas W Jeyakumar, Luke Maran, Charles L Finn, Ethan Morlu, Rafeen Rahaman, Ryan Yao, Yolande Berta, Alexis C Noel, Yuhang Hu, David L Hu","doi":"10.1039/d6sm00737f","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Terrestrial mammals are constantly beset by insects, and the ear is a vulnerable point of entry. Unlike other body orifices that produce fluids such as mucus or tears, the ear appears defenseless. How does it stop invaders? We hypothesize that earwax acts as a slick barrier that prevents insects from crawling into the ear. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we show that earwax is both slick and adhesive. Ants have difficulty climbing earwax-coated surfaces and cleaning earwax from their bodies. These phenomena are due to the hydrophilic, porous, and viscoelastic properties of earwax, which we study using microscopy, rheology, experiments with ants, and fabrication of arti earwax. We also demonstrate that earwax's aging renders it brittle, facilitating self-removal over a 10-week time scale. This study may be of use to designers of eco-friendly barriers for insects.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Soft Matter","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sm00737f","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Terrestrial mammals are constantly beset by insects, and the ear is a vulnerable point of entry. Unlike other body orifices that produce fluids such as mucus or tears, the ear appears defenseless. How does it stop invaders? We hypothesize that earwax acts as a slick barrier that prevents insects from crawling into the ear. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we show that earwax is both slick and adhesive. Ants have difficulty climbing earwax-coated surfaces and cleaning earwax from their bodies. These phenomena are due to the hydrophilic, porous, and viscoelastic properties of earwax, which we study using microscopy, rheology, experiments with ants, and fabrication of arti earwax. We also demonstrate that earwax's aging renders it brittle, facilitating self-removal over a 10-week time scale. This study may be of use to designers of eco-friendly barriers for insects.
期刊介绍：
Soft Matter is an international journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry using Engineering-Materials Science: A Synthesis as its research focus. It publishes original research articles, review articles, and synthesis articles related to this field, reporting the latest discoveries in the relevant theoretical, practical, and applied disciplines in a timely manner, and aims to promote the rapid exchange of scientific information in this subject area. The journal is an open access journal. The journal is an open access journal and has not been placed on the alert list in the last three years.
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