From the brain behind brains on, this is the moment of um.

Moment of um comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Anna G.

Um. Man, I... from APM Studios. I'm Anna G. Uh...

Man, I am in need of some serious inspiration.

My buddy Sandin and I have been challenging each other to write poems about weird topics.

It's super fun.

Our first round went pretty well.

I wrote a sonnet about salamanders, and Sandin went all out with an ode to orangutans.

Round two was food-themed.

I did a limerick about lasagna, and Sandin wrote a deeply emotional haiku about hot sauce.

But this time, my topic is earwax.

I mean, at least wax isn't hard to rhyme. I could use snacks,

stacks, facts, hacks, quacks, you get the idea. But I don't know anything about earwax,

except that it's sticky and it's in my ears. Like, what is it for? And you know what? We got the same question from listener Gabriel.

Hi, I'm Gabriel from Austin, New York.

My question is, what does your do for our ears?

This is like one of the most common questions I get every single day.

My name is Anjali Gans.

I'm an attending pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

So earwax protects our ears in amazing ways.

It actually forms a physical barrier against dust, bacteria, and other germs.

It protects our ears physically from water that may irritate the ear canal.

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