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The evolutionary riddle of the kiss

The evolutionary riddle of the kiss

60-Second Science vor 7 Monaten

Why the simple act of kissing—which can be traced back 21.5 million years—continues to confound evolutionary biologists

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With Valentine’s Day around the corner, kissing may be on your
mind. But why do we kiss? In this episode of Science Quickly,
evolutionary biologist Matilda Brindle joins host Kendra
Pierre-Louis to uncover the evolutionary roots of kissing. We trace
kissing back 21.5 million years and learn how it’s common among
primates and what that tells us about how kissing may have evolved
among humans. Plus, we also unpack recent findings that hint that
humans and Neandertals may have once locked lips. Recommended
Reading: Kissing May Have Evolved 21.5 Million Years Ago 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 our daily
newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis,
Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was
edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and
Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
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