Research shows that curly hair is crucial for human brain development

Reported on Reference News Network on July 5thAccording to the website of Newsweek on June 27th, scientists have found that curly hair may be the key to the development of such a large human brain.A research paper published by researchers at Pennsylvania State University analyzed how human hair texture helps regulate body temperature

Reported on Reference News Network on July 5th

According to the website of Newsweek on June 27th, scientists have found that curly hair may be the key to the development of such a large human brain.

A research paper published by researchers at Pennsylvania State University analyzed how human hair texture helps regulate body temperature.

Human beings evolved in Equatorial Africa. There, the sun is always above the head, which means the scalp will experience more solar radiation. In the early evolution of the human brain, hair texture may be important.

Scientists use wigs and human models that simulate body temperature using electricity to analyze how different types of hair affect body temperature. During the research process, they measured the amount of heat lost by the human body and used a lamp on the model's head to replace solar radiation. These lamps simulate the environment of Equatorial Africa, with a humidity of 60%. Then, they experimented with different types of hair, such as straight hair, medium curly hair, and tight curly hair.

Researchers have found that among all types of hair, tightly curled hair has the best effect on keeping the body cool.

The main author of the research report, Tina Rasisi, said, "We assume that tight curls will bring some benefits, but the extent of the benefits is uncertain

She said, "Previous studies on mammalian fur have shown that hair can limit the amount of sunlight the skin can get, but what surprised us particularly was that tightly curled hair can greatly reduce the impact of solar thermal radiation

The human brain can develop larger under the above conditions, which may be precisely for this reason. This is because larger brains are sensitive to heat and also produce a large amount of heat. Too much heat can lead to dangerous consequences, such as heatstroke. Lasisi said that this means curly hair may be a way of adaptation, playing a role in passive thermal regulation.

She said, "Once humans develop a larger brain, they can adopt other behaviors and social strategies to cope with heat, which may weaken the relative advantage of curly hair. This may be why there are various types of hair with different textures distributed around the world. In addition, because straight hair can better retain heat, people in colder environments may have experienced selection pressures that favor straight hair

This study has given scientists some understanding of how the role of human hair changes without putting humans at risk.

Lassi said, "Depending on environmental conditions such as humidity, the texture of hair may change slightly, but not sharply. Straight hair does not suddenly become tightly curled, and vice versa. However, hair may become more straight or curly, depending on how the fibers in a single hair interact and the weight of the hair, as their moisture content changes

She said: "This research focuses on the Biophysics characteristics of heat transfer related to hair texture. Next, we need to understand the impact of our research results in the context of human physiology."

The goal of future research is to incorporate our data into mathematical models of human physiology, or to conduct experiments on people with different hair textures to investigate the impact of hair texture on their thermal regulation, and to answer the above questions through these methods

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