Smithsonian Magazine on MSN8d
Why Do Mammals Have Outer Ears? Scientists Are Getting Closer to Solving the Mystery
Two new studies offer insights into the evolution and development of external ears, which appear in humans and other mammals ...
IFLScience on MSN12h
Despite Being Pretty Much Useless, These Ear-Wiggling Muscles Still Attempt To Work
Thought to be pretty redundant in modern humans outside of wiggling our ears for a giggle, new research has revealed that ...
Live Science on MSN14h
'Vestigial' human ear-wiggling muscle actually flexes when we're straining to hear
A mechanism that activates specific muscles in our ears is a leftover from our evolutionary past, back when our ancestors depended more on their hearing for survival.
Discover Magazine6h
Though Mostly Useless, Wiggling Ear Muscles Work Hard to Hear
Learn more about the auricular muscles, which activate when we wiggle our ears, and apparently, when we listen to several sounds at once.
The Manhattan Mercury13h
Study discovers that ear muscles wiggle to help people listen better
Muscles only believed to be used to wiggle our ears actually enable people to listen more intently, reveals new research.
Scientific American9d
Our Ears Share a Common Ancestry with Fish Gills
The genes that build the cartilage of fish gills were repurposed to build the cartilage in mammals’ outer ears ...
Baylor College of Medicine18d
Inner and Outer Hair Cells
Several studies that had examined the inner ears of deaf people shortly after they died demonstrated that outer hair cells were required for hearing. It was clear that the inner hair cells served to ...