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

卷发从何而来?生物人类学或许能提供洞见

Science Quickly

科学

2025-02-21

18 分钟
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单集简介 ...

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 Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • Have you ever really thought about the hair that grows out of your head?

  • I mean,

  • I'm sure you've thought about your hair in terms of which way to get it cut and how to get

  • that one really wonky piece to behave itself for once.

  • But have you ever considered why it is the way it is for Scientific American science?

  • Quickly.

  • I'm Rachel Feltman.

  • My guest today is biological anthropologist Tina Lasisi,

  • an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.

  • She, she leads a lab that studies the, quote,

  • evolution and genetic basis of human phenotypic variation with a focus on pigmentation and hair.

  • In other words, she's figuring out why human skin and hair comes in so many gorgeous varieties.

  • Thanks so much for joining us to chat today.

  • Great to be here.

  • So I've been a fan of your research for a few years now because, among other things,

  • you're really asking and answering questions about hair that I don't think anyone else is tackling.

  • How do you get interested in your field of study?

  • And would you tell our listeners a little bit about it?

  • Absolutely.

  • So I got interested in this when I was an undergrad.