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

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.3 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

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 [email protected] 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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0:30.7	Have you ever really thought about the hair that grows out of your head? I mean, I'm sure you've
0:35.7	thought about your hair in terms of which way to get
0:38.3	it cut and how to get that one really wonky piece to behave itself for once. But have you ever
0:43.8	considered why it is the way it is? For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.
0:50.4	My guest today is biological anthropologist Tina Lise, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
0:56.9	She leads a lab that studies the, quote, evolution and genetic basis of human phenotypic variation,
1:03.3	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.
1:14.0	Thanks so much for joining us to chat today. Great to be here. So I've been a fan of your
1:19.2	research for a few years now because, among other things, you're really asking and answering
1:24.3	questions about hair that I don't think anyone else is tackling.
1:28.5	How did you get interested in your field of study? And would you tell our listeners a little bit about it?
1:34.6	Absolutely. So I got interested in this when I was an undergrad. I did my undergrad at the
1:39.9	University of Cambridge where I was studying archaeology and anthropology, which there consists of
1:45.8	studying archaeology, biological anthropology, and social anthropology. And I was always someone who
1:51.8	really liked culture and traveling. So I thought I was going to be a cultural anthropologist,
1:55.8	but I got this lecture in the evolution of human skin color that really had me intrigued. And it was
2:04.2	a lecture where they showed, you know, there's really famous map pairings where you see the
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