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Aren't genes wonderful little things

TheCatWoman

Isn't it amazing that gene's can change so much, like whether you can roll your tongue or not, attached or unattached ear lobe's, corriander tasting like soap to some, brocolli tasting incredibly bitter to others.

I can see that far back in our evolutionary journey when mammals first started coming to dominance, that being able to make your tongue into a straw would be useful, whilst others lapped, but what is it with ear lobes?

Parents

  • I really liked The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. It is evolutionary biology from the point of view of the gene, rather than the organism hosting that gene. It really helped to understand things from a different, and probably more correct, perspective.

    The Internet thinks that ear lobes are a throwback to earlier, smaller mammals where the ear lobes may have improved hearing significantly. However, in humans, they don't really serve a purpose any more (except as somewhere to hold your earrings), so whether they are attached or detached doesn't really make a difference to hearing.

    I hadn't heard about the coriander/soap thing. We learned about cucumbers being bitter to some people when in school, though.

  • in reply to Damojo

    Some people can twitch thier ears too, which seems to be another genetic thing, I can see an evolutionary sense to this on though.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    My dad could twitch his ears, but I can't. Must have lucked out on that particular gene.

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