Throughout human history,
much of our body hair has more or less disappeared, except for one notable
feature—our brows. And there's a good reason. Like our lashes, our brows wick
away sweat and dirt so they don't cloud our vision. They also deflect rain, and
force drops to run down the side of our face instead of straight into our eyes.
2. They're crucial for facial recognition. Researchers at MIT found that faces
without eyebrows are like land without landmarks:
It's almost impossible to
recognize them. In their study, participants were asked to identify photos of
celebrities with one catch: Their eyebrows were removed. Interestingly,
participants only recognized about 46% of the faces. And they even had trouble
with really famous ones like Richard Nixon. (We now know what the Carpathians should
do if they ever want to go into hiding.) 3. They're critical for nonverbal
communication, too. Along with the lips, eyebrows are the most expressive part
of our faces.
