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Where Did Curly Hair Come From? Biological Anthropology May Provide Insights

Where Did Curly Hair Come From? Biological Anthropology May Provide Insights

60-Second Science vor 1 Jahr

Humans have a surprising lack of hair for mammals. Biological anthropology may provide insights into why the hair we have sometimes comes out curly.

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It’s fairly strange that humans, unlike many other mammals, don’t
have hair all over. Our lack of body hair and wide geographic
distribution led to the variation of sun-protective melanin in our
skin. For the hair that remains, why did some groups develop curls
while others did not? Biological anthropologist Tina Lasisi takes
host Rachel Feltman through her work on understanding the roots of
hair types. Plus, they discuss what we might learn from “chemo
curls” and how developmental shifts change the extent and texture
of hair during puberty. Recommended reading: Read more about Tina
Lasisi at her website Read papers on hair and thermoregulation
published by Lasisi and her colleagues in 2024 and 2023 E-mail us
at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or
ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every
day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in
Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by
Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg, Naeem
Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel
Feltman. Our show is edited by Jeff DelViscio with fact-checking by
Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by
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