Bacon's Sandwich Lite Bites: Why Do We Have Earlobes?

Описание: The large, external parts of our ears are good at channelling incoming sound, but what about the lobe – that little part at the bottom? It doesn’t seem to do much and it differs in shape from person to person. So, is it evolutionarily important or just a left-over of Nature’s selective process? And how sexy are yours?



More about spandrels:
https://chestofbooks.com/architecture...

The study that identified over 41 genes involved in earlobe shape
University of Pittsburgh, (2017) A large Pitt-led study uncovered the complex genetics behind earlobe attachment. Pittwire, Dec. 5. online
https://www.pittwire.pitt.edu/pittwir...

Earlobe shapes among Koreans
Kim KE, Song WJ, Kim DK (2018) Reevaluation of the earlobe types in Koreans. Homo. 69(6):377-380. doi: 10.1016/j.jchb.2018.10.003. Epub 2018 Oct 29. PMID: 30392739.

Ear auricles develop from ancestral gill arches
Thiruppathy, M., Teubner, L., Roberts, R.R. et al. (2025) Repurposing of a gill gene regulatory program for outer-ear evolution. Nature. 639, 682–690. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08...

Image of ear cartilage
Zucchelli E, Birchall M, Bulstrode NW, Ferretti P. (2020) Modeling Normal and Pathological Ear Cartilage in vitro Using Somatic Stem Cells in Three-Dimensional Culture. Front Cell Dev Biol. 28;8:666. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00666. PMID: 32850801; PMCID: PMC7402373.

How useful is the appendix?
Cheriyedath, S. (2019) Why do humans have an appendix? Life Sciences (Medical News).
https://www.news-medical.net/health/W...

Darwin’s thoughts on our ear shapes and their effect on sexual selection?
Darwin, C. (1889) The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. D. Appleton and Co., New York, New York.
https://darwin-online.org.uk/converte...

Ancient shell earrings
Alex, B. (2024) ‘Landmark paper’ shows why ice age Europeans wore jewelry
Science, News, Jan 29. online.
https://www.science.org/content/artic...

Otzi (the “ice man”) and his piercings:
Bonvissuto, D. and Colorito, R. (2024) What you should know about ear piercing. WebMD. Sept. 22. online.
https://www.webmd.com/beauty/ear-pier...

Erogenous zone research
Younis, Ihab & Fattah, Menhaabdel & Maamoun, Marwa. (2016). Female hot spots: extragenital erogenous zones. Human Andrology. 6. 20-26. DOI. 10.1097/01.XHA.0000481142.54302.08.

Beckwith-Wiedeman syndrome
Mikael Häggström, M.D. - Wang R, Xiao Y, Li D, Hu H, Li X, Ge T (2020). "Clinical and molecular features of children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome in China: a single-center retrospective cohort study.". Ital. J. Pediatr. 46 (1): 55.
DOI:10.1186/s13052-020-0819-3.