Ping!
Posted on 01/14/2011 4:16:53 PM PST by decimon
A mystery of Neanderthals for more than a century is one that's literally as plain as the noses on their faces - why did they have such big schnozes?
One common answer suggests their faces somehow helped our extinct relatives deal with the extreme cold they faced. Now, however, scientists find that Neanderthal faces were not built for the cold - meaning that no one still knows why Neanderthals had such noses.
The enigma that such a large nose poses is that it seems like an excellent way to lose heat - a paradox, given that Neanderthals lived when glaciers dominated Europe. Modern humans and other animals, in contrast, typically have evolved significantly narrower, longer noses in cold climates. [The Many Mysteries of Neanderthals]
Scientists have tried solving this mystery by suggesting there were equally giant sinuses behind the broad noses. Some proposed the sinuses helped warm the air before it entered the lungs so Neanderthals were able to keep their bodies warm. Others speculated the sinuses actually had the exact opposite function, helping Neanderthals rid their bodies of heat, preventing them from drenching in sweat that could have cooled them off even more.
"The $64,000 question is what sinuses do - that is, what is their biological function. Scientists have been arguing over that for hundreds of years," researcher Todd Rae, a paleoanthropologist at Roehampton University in London, wrote in an e-mail. "There are dozens of suggestions for what they may do for the animals that have them, including adding resonance to the voice and acting as flotation devices!"
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Honkin’ big paradox ping.
Jewish?
Because they had big fingers and kleenex wouldn't be invented for another 300,000 years.......do the math.
Ugh vey.
“.....acting as flotation devices!”
wish I could find a pic of Helen Thomas.........
Ping!
LOL!!
All the better to smell you with, my dear.
The only reason that Neanderthal men had big noses is that Neanderthal women like ‘em big, and that’s the way they bred ‘em.
Because they had big fingers and kleenex wouldn’t be invented for another 300,000 years.......do the math
lol
Air is free
Air’s free...
I asked Charles Darwin this exact question before he died. Charlie said that they migrated from Africa, where big noses helped dissipate the heat, but in the colder European climate, those same noses became liabilities - which is why they went extinct. Who would have thought it was a nose job defect?
Darn you...
Better to sniff out game with.
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