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Ten Things We Still Don't Understand About Humans
ParticleGirl writes "New Scientist has an article examining 10 human features (bugs?) that we still don't understand, like blushing, laughing, and nose-picking. There are some interesting, speculative evolutionary explanations listed for each. '[Psychologist Robert R. Provine] thinks laughing began in our pre-human ancestors as a physiological response to tickling. Modern apes maintain the ancestral 'pant-pant' laugh when they are tickled during play, and this evolved into the human 'ha-ha.' Then, he argues, as our brains got bigger, laughter acquired a powerful social function — to bond people. Indeed, Robin Dunbar at the University of Oxford has found that laughing increases levels of endorphins, our body's natural opiates, which he believes helps to strengthen social relationships.'"
Memes could explain some of them. Some could be pure cultural (i.e. kissing, superstition, altruism) and others could had helped that we evolved this way (your odds of mating could had been increased if you had the ability to do some of those things).
That's exactly what it is for. As mentioned above, even kids do it instinctively.
The mucus in the nose protects the soft tissue and captures lots of bacteria and other germs. That stuff needs cleaned out every once in a while and blowing your nose can not get all that encrusted stuff out. You want rotting bacteria in your nose?
Parent is not a flaimbait. NewScientist is definitely "new stupidist" in this article.
For example, it's clear that altruism is generally good for the community (even though it might be detrimental to an individual), thus it makes perfect sense that we've evolved it. Same for blushing.
Etc.
The Underground History of American Education is relevent here, if you're interested in one former teacher's account of how forced schooling came to be in the U.S. and where the new concept of "adolescence" came from. Highly depressing; I thoroughly recommend it. It's free to read online. (Not affiliated with it in any way, I just happened to have read it recently.)
link
Some of these seem obvious, I am not a researcher or professor not am I involved with any sort of grant so I could be completely wrong but... Blushing - When we become excited or anxious blood rushes faster to the face that it is pumped away so the increased oxygenated blood causes the reddish tint, seems like this one is more of a why does our heart rate increase when we are excited or anxious? Pubic hair, we have hair around every part of the body that has more sensitive skin, head, genitals, inside of the nose, etc... Most of us don't have hair on the palms of our hands (you know who you are you unclean slashdotters) because that would interfere with tactile sensation needed for more dexterous tasks Teenagers, apes don't have someone constantly trying to sell them a look or mood. Teenagers don't invent fashions and trends marketers do. Then a popular teenager decides that what the marketer said about it being cool must be true and their peers all wanting to be cool too follow. I am pretty sure my grandmother was not "emo". Again it seems like the question here is why do humans feel the need to follow the crowd. Superstition - Somewhere along the way someone had a bad experience that they linked with another event (most likely coincidental) and they shared that information, and just as stories are retold superstition is passed along as well. There have also been some early studies showing that belief in superstitions may be a mild form of OCD. Nose Picking, if your nose is clogged up you pick it to open nasal passages. Like any other behavior this can become habitual to the point of it happening unconsciously at inappropriate times.
And it dislodges whatever blowing your nose couldn't.
This one morning... I had one of those hard, pointy bits of dried mucus in my nose, I had to pull it out, the poking was painful. It was firmly glued to the side of my nose, and I ended up pulling out a long strand that felt like it had been filling up a sinus cavity all the way across my cheekbone. It felt like my head was 5 pounds lighter after that! It was magical, I tell you.
I would like to point out, from altruistic motivations, that the word is "flamebait", not "flaimbait".
I apologize for any detrimental impact that this may have upon you as an individual.
I think the author equates nose picking with eating one's boogers, Mucophagy. I would really like to know why people do THAT.
As for nose-picking itself, since humans are dry-nosed primates, drying of mucus in the nose is natural and cleaning it out is as well.
boogers (there must be a technical term, please enlighten me)
Dried nasal mucus
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
The currently popular theory of kissing's adaptive nature holds that kissing is a way to exchange (biochemical) information about hormone levels and immune system types, and also promotes emotional attachment towards pair bonding.
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Kissing is not a solely human trait; many of our closest relatives also engage in kissing behavior. It's a trait we share with several other species of apes.
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Laughter increases the feeling of mirth in people who hear it.
Mirth itself is harder to explain, but it appears to serve a number of purposes, from a defense mechanism against hopelessness to stress relief to social reinforcement (teasing, mocking).
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (TM)
And for some extra nasal bandwidth, try neti.
BTW, blowing your nose is a really nasty practice, because is pushes the goo further into your sinuses. Of course, in some social situations it's the only acceptable way :-/
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
In the country I live in, 16 year olds can vote, drink and go clubbing. They can get permanent criminal records and can leave school or whatever. The schools don't need to notify the parents of squat and they can even write there own "absentee" notes for school if they choose to attend.
But they are still teenagers. Most still need parents to pay rent etc. So they are "dependents".
My Grandfather left school (after the war) at 14, and was living on his own at 16 and married at 18. His wife was 16.
Things *are* different from 50 years ago.
The Grey Goo disaster happened 3 billion years ago. This rock is covered in self replicating machines!
Being the asshole gets you a Pyhrric "victory" in the short term, but being the generous, helpful guy makes your life so much easier in the medium-long term. When the chips are down everyone rallies round to help you. People are also prepared to trust you in ways the asshole couldn't even imagine. People just give you stuff.
Altruism begets altruism. Especially if you genuinely help people out of empathy/compassion rather than expecting something in return. (Most) People can tell when they're being manipulated. I know it's corny but helping people out really is it's own reward. Making people happy is a real buzz. Then you usually get another reward later from their gratitude. Talk about having your cake and eating it. Altruism dumps all over selfishness from a great height. Assholes don't know what they're missing.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons