https://phys.org/news/2018-07-breathtaking-photo-beluga-whale-snot.html

The Faculty of Science student studies beluga snot and you can follow her research adventures on Twitter using her hashtag #SnotForScience or follow her @justinehud.

The working title of her thesis is "Snot for science: using blow to analyze stress hormones in the western Hudson Bay beluga population." By capturing the exhalations on a petri dish she suspends over the blowhole using a pole, she gathers information on genetics, hormone levels, and infectious disease. Prior to this method, researchers had to capture or restrain beluga whales, which is arguable a stressful event for the whale and thus biased stress hormone levels in the samples. Hudson's non-invasive technique allows for more accurate data gathering.