Why do we have EYEBROWS? I Greg Foot I Head Squeeze

We are raising a few eyebrows with this awesome question from Sam Lane which is Why do we have eyebrows? Yes, those two bits of hair that sits just above your eyes that are preened, picked, plucked, and manicured. Why do we have them?

In a nutshell, as homo sapiens we had hair all over our face and as evolution progressed we lost that hair, but the hair around our eyebrows just hung on. Don't pluck too much as those eyebrows are not just an evolutionary hangover they also protect your eyes from sweat and dust. Yuk!

[cleon]

"How's the weather looking today Ollie?"

"It's rainin' sideways!"

[goran]

1:42 Neanderthals aren't our ancestors friend. We didn't evolve from them, they were a different species.

[JoyOfMachine]

My question is: Why do we get goosebumps when we hear good music, or great sounds like a car engine?

[Manticorp]

I believe also that eyebrows have evolved as a means of expression - eyebrows are one of the most important facial features in determining mood and also in recognising people:

"In a study published by MIT, where subjects were asked to identify celebrities with either their eyes or their eyebrows digitally edited out, the subjects were able to recognize the celebrity 46% of the time with their eyebrows edited out, compared to 60% of the time with their eyes edited out. The findings indicate the importance of eyebrows in providing clues to an individual's identity"

[jaker]

This reminds me of a joke: if a quiz is to a quizzical then what is a test?

[notpumkin]

I was actually looking in the mirror yesterday, wondering the same thing. I came to the same conclusion but thanks for confirming that!

[SuperGloopBGE]

Those little vertical bars that you put in the title of the video look like upper-case I's for some reason. Maybe youtube changed fonts.

[hans_normal]

I heard you say "just like our neandertal.ancestiors".
As far as I know, the Neandertal-guys are NOT our ancestors, they were the cousins of our ancestors. For me this makes a huge difference.
We did not evolve out of each other, we evolved from something previous in time.
We share the same root, but not the same branch.
If you see this differently, please let me know! :-)

[robertof]

Another use for the eyebrows are sun protectors. I know you guys in the UK don't get much sun, but in sunny places, when you walk around in instinctively lower you eyebrows in order to give some shade a when you kind of use a cap.

[tnyxgq]

While the cranial extrusion above the eyes may provide an arch for rain to drain away or maybe some shade from the noon sun, I think it's mostly used for expression. The eyebrow, to me, is able to help display facial emotions more effectively than say a person without eyebrows. You can probably also make out a person's expression from further away. But that's just my observation. 

[lewnpapadopoulos]

How do they measure the height of the mountains?

[CtrlSaltDelete]

I know someone with aloepecia (complete lack of any hair) who says that without eyebrows the sweat from your head goes straight into your eyes. This seems a pretty obvious evolutionary reason for eyebrows.

[debbiethemadbee]

One for Greg. Why does some peoples hair go curly and some peoples go straight when it's wet/ironed? Same with fabrics/materials

[voidedgoat]

Why do wheels look like they are going backwards at certain speeds?

[eCsyiuD]

>neanderthal ancestors
>ancestors

nice "science" channel you got there lads!

[bhuni]

Why are some people's second toes longer than the first one? (also I would love to wear one of the James May face t-shirts if it's possible, thank you)

[jipersson]

My eyebrows are hailstorm proof. When I go to the barber and he asks me if he should trim them. I always say "Yes but only enough that I don't fall over them.

[lostdesiboy]

How does Roach killer work? Always wondered!!!

[HailAzeez]

Why do we get pins and needles when we bang our elbows?

[pogly]

Liked just for the call about VNs and getting the power down on the one spinning wheel. :-D