The rare substance, which is normally found floating in the sea, is used in high-end perfumes. Here's what makes it so expensive. After a dead sperm whale washed up on a beach on the Spanish Island of ...

The odd, enduring appeal of a scarce commodity few people use and no one really needs Text by Mark Wilding, Illustrations by Aurélie Beatley, Hakai In a sparsely furnished office building in the ...

Science Diction is a bite-sized podcast about words—and the science stories behind them. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and sign up for our newsletter. Last month, Science Diction received ...

A group of Yemeni fishermen had their lives changed with whale vomit. The odorous organic material – also known as ambergris – came from a sperm whale carcass in the Gulf of Aden, according to the BBC ...

DNA evidence shows that jetsam ambergris comes from sperm whales. By Joshua Sokol Every so often, a fatberg-esque blob of material called ambergris washes up on a beach. These lumps, used to make ...

The huge chunk of ambergris was found lodged inside the sperm whale — and scientists believe it ruptured its intestine, causing its death and subsequent beaching in La Palma. When you purchase through ...

Out for a stroll on Bolinas Beach, north of the Golden Gate, one afternoon last fortnight went Alf Harrodon, 33-year-old radio operator. Striding along with head in air he stumbled on something soft.

We don’t often associate the anus with pleasant aromas. But for select members of a certain species of cetacean, that orifice can be the source of the world’s most sought after scent. While the odor ...

A huge bounty of ambergris—often called "whale vomit"—that was seized from smugglers in India has been found to be worth several million dollars. Local authorities acquired the smuggled ambergris near ...