{"id":3795,"date":"2017-10-04T11:40:53","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T15:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=3795"},"modified":"2017-10-04T11:40:53","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T15:40:53","slug":"the-most-extraordinary-tooth-on-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2017\/features\/the-most-extraordinary-tooth-on-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Extraordinary Tooth On The Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin Nweeia \u201977 seeks to solve the mystery of the narwhal<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Andrew J. Concatelli<\/em><\/p>\n

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Martin Nweeia \u201977 and research colleague Adrian Arnauyumayuq complete experiments on a live narwhal in Arctic Bay, Nunavut, Canada, in 2007. Photo by Gretchen Freund<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a nine-foot, spiraling tusk jutting out from the front of its head, the narwhal looks like a sea creature from a fantasy world. As scientists studied the elusive whale, they discovered that the tusk is a massive tooth, which is what brings Martin Nweeia \u201977 \u2014 a practicing dentist, marine mammal biologist, lecturer at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and clinical assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine \u2014 to the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean to conduct research.<\/p>\n

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Martin Nweeia, D.D.S., \u201977 stands on the steps of the Smithsonian\u2019s Museum of Natural History and points to the center banner, which touts the narwhal exhibit. Photo by Pamela Peeters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nweeia graduated from Trinity College with majors in biology and English before attending dental school at Case Western Reserve. Now a member of the Vertebrate Zoology Department of the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and a research scientist with the National Science Foundation, he also is part of a team behind the Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend<\/em> exhibit at the NMNH that opened in August and runs for two years. The exhibit showcases Inuit perspectives on their connections to the narwhals and offers the most up-to-date scientific information about the animals.<\/p>\n

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Please check back soon for information about a special alumni tour of <\/em>Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend, an exhibit at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of Natural History. The tour, which will be led by Martin Nweeia \u201977 and will be followed by a reception and Q&A, is being planned for early 2018.
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Nweeia says that most of his work has been in the \u201cfield of dental anthropology, studying the migrations of people and disease based on teeth and looking for unusual examples in nature, such as elephants, walrus, and warthogs.\u201d He was attracted to his current research with questions raised by the narwhal tooth, which seems to defy all evolutionary reason. \u201cMuch of the explanation didn\u2019t make intuitive sense to me. I was inquisitive initially, and the more I read, the more perplexed I was,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s more fun as a scientist to look at the examples that don\u2019t make sense.\u201d That curiosity was enough to propel him to ask \u201cWhat on earth is this marine mammal doing with this mythical tusk?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no question that this animal has the most extraordinary tooth on the planet,\u201d Nweeia says. \u201cThere\u2019s more to this story that I felt needed to be told.\u201d<\/p>\n

The narwhal has captured the imagination of explorers, artists, and scientists alike. \u201cA large percentage of the population doesn\u2019t even realize these animals are on the planet, let alone that they wield this extraordinary tooth,\u201d Nweeia says. Research has shown that the whale has the ability to form 12 other teeth that it genetically silences, leaving no teeth inside its mouth.<\/p>\n

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A narwhal pops through a spring ice lead near the High Arctic\u2019s Baffin Island, Nunavut Canada. Photo by Glenn Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The animal\u2019s distinctive \u201ctusk\u201d is likely a canine tooth, Nweeia says. \u201cIt\u2019s a sensory organ \u2014 we have very definitive scientific evidence for that. The findings teach us much about the evolution of teeth and the adaptation, in this case, of a sensory organ system,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople don\u2019t think about teeth as sensory organs, and yet the evolutionary origin of teeth really comes from sensory organs that were able to detect particle gradients in the water, temperature, and pressure. Our own teeth have that ability, but we have relegated more of the function now in our teeth to be primarily for chewing and biting because of where we are on the evolutionary scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

The narwhal tooth also is unusual in other ways. \u201cWe found that it is built very differently from other teeth. Our own teeth have a hard coating of enamel on the outside and are softer in the center, while in the narwhal it\u2019s the exact opposite: soft and flexible on the outside, but the inside is like a steel shaft,\u201d Nweeia says.<\/p>\n

Conducting research on these animals, which live in the near-freezing Arctic water, presents its challenges. \u201cThe work is treasured because people know how difficult it is,\u201d Nweeia says. \u201cThe environment is completely unpredictable, and the seasons are becoming blurred in ways that are difficult to predict. There\u2019s a very narrow window of time in the first two weeks of August when we try to work. You get there by helicopter, Twin Otter plane, or boat, and the weather doesn\u2019t always cooperate. If something goes wrong, no one\u2019s coming to get you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nweeia examines a narwhal tusk and skull at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of Natural History before it is placed in a new exhibit, which opened in August. Photo by Stephen Voss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It may be a long way from Hartford to the Arctic Circle, but Nweeia says that he still carries the influence of his Trinity education with him. \u201cI think Trinity was instrumental in shaping my brain and my approach to science. [Charles A. Dana Professor of Biology] Craig Schneider taught me to think in an integrative and an intuitive way, as opposed to one based on memorization of ideas and facts. In a final exam question \u2014 which I remember to this day \u2014 he said that a bat in the Amazon jungle was able to pollinate a certain kind of flower, and he wanted us to explain why this would occur. It\u2019s that kind of question that makes you think beyond your own perimeter, and that\u2019s what all the fundamental advances in science will be based on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider says that Nweeia was the type of student who valued knowledge over grades. \u201cRather than judging himself on pluses and minuses, he judged himself on what he learned,\u201d Schneider says of Nweeia. \u201cHe was curious, and he had a self-confidence that all of my students should have about their abilities. Curious people lead interesting lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nweeia\u2019s inquisitive nature has helped him win numerous honors, including a National Geographic<\/em> Explorer grant and a Fulbright. He also recently learned that he will be among those receiving a 2017 Lowell Thomas Award \u2014 given in recognition of extraordinary contributions to exploration and scientific research \u2014 from The Explorers Club, an international professional society.<\/p>\n

Nweeia says he was happy to have the opportunity to give back to the Trinity community when he was invited to deliver a Science for the Greater Good lecture last year. \u201cThe thing that allowed me to become an expert in a specific field of study was seeded and nurtured at Trinity. Professors are really trying to open up minds,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Trinity\u2019s Interdisciplinary Science Center (ISC), along with partners in Advancement and Career Development, sponsors the Science for the Greater Good lecture series, which aims to bring prominent Trinity science alumni back to campus to talk about their work and to mentor students. Alison Draper, director of the ISC, says that she is fascinated with how Nweeia pursues his scientific inquiry while also maintaining a dental practice in Sharon, Connecticut. \u201cDr. Nweeia is a great example of someone whose career hasn\u2019t limited his curiosity,\u201d Draper says.<\/p>\n

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Jane O\u2019Brien, an anchor of BBC World News, joins Martin Nweeia, D.D.S., \u201977, right, and Nweeia\u2019s wife, Pamela Peeters, at the Smithsonian. Photo by Ryan Lavery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By speaking directly to students, Draper says, Nweeia helped to illustrate the advantages of a liberal arts education to those who wish to pursue careers in the sciences. \u201cA scientist like Dr. Nweeia who is broadly educated and has learned to ask critical questions is a better scientist for that liberal arts foundation,\u201d she says. \u201cDr. Nweeia, particularly, has incorporated much of what he learned in anthropology courses to further his research by recognizing the cultural knowledge among Arctic peoples about the narwhal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nweeia points out that he learns as much from indigenous cultures as he does from his research. As he strives to answer questions about why the narwhal has evolved in its peculiar way, interviewing Inuit elders and hunters all over the planet has helped to expand his philosophical world view. \u201cThe thing I find most uniform is that indigenous people do not care about why things are the way they are. Their understanding of the planet is to work with it, not to say \u2018Why is it?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Experiences like these reinforce Nweeia\u2019s approach to science, which combines biology with anthropology and other fields. \u201cBiological questions cannot be answered only by biologists,\u201d he says. \u201cIn the world of science, the real insight, the real progress, the findings of significance are going to be found by integrative thinkers who wander freely between the perimeters of myriad disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Visit http:\/\/www.narwhal.org<\/a> to learn more about Narwhal Tusk Research.<\/em><\/p>\n

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