Are you a morning person? Glory to the Neanderthals! ● Why is curly hair an evolutionary advantage? ● In the future, traffic lights may have a fourth color

Are you a morning person? Glory to the Neanderthals!

To the list of things we inherited from Homo neanderthalensis, our evolutionary cousin, we also add the genes that help us wake up refreshed and refreshed in the morning. Or rather, from those Homo sapiens who woke up from the first hour to create hybrid offspring with Neanderthals.

At least that’s what researchers from about three American universities say in a study published in the journal bioRxiv, noting that the study is still in the “preprint” stage, meaning they’re awaiting confirmation from other specialists and editors.

According to the study, our direct ancestors, i.e. Homo sapiens, encountered a different environment when they arrived from Africa to Europe. In particular, with greater variability in the hours of night and day, depending on the seasons, compared to what they knew in their native Africa.

By interbreeding with Neanderthals, they gained the ability to adjust their circadian rhythm according to new environments and new changes. The cited researchers also say they have identified at least 16 archaic genes responsible for regulating the circadian rhythm that we would have inherited from Neanderthals.

Now, we can’t help but notice the fact that even the experts say they have no idea how early waking up is an evolutionary advantage. Therefore, take this information with a grain of skepticism! Sure, but this contradicts the older study that Neanderthals went into hibernation, so they slept until the water ran out from under them.

Again, those Homo sapiens did not jump from Africa to Europe suddenly, squinting their eyes in sleep. They spent several tens of thousands of years in the Middle East and Asia, where they would have had plenty of time to settle, with or without early Neanderthals. And one more thing, the hypothesis of African origin is also not proven.

Why is curly hair an evolutionary advantage?

During the evolutionary process that made us the intelligent beings we are today, humans lost most of their body hair. Not all, but almost all. Remnants of what it once was can still be seen today in some places, but especially on the head. An evolutionary feature that scientists have struggled to explain for over 150 years, ever since they agreed that the Earth is not quite 6,000 years old.

Starting with one of the most widely used hypotheses, namely that our capillary decoration remained intact because it would help protect us from the sun’s heat. By default, body hair loss and head hair retention came with a two-legged motion.

To test this hypothesis, several American and English specialists tested several different types of wigs on mannequins to see how well they repel heat.

It turned out that the most effective in this regard are wigs with curly hair. Hence this feature, which is rare among wild species. Curly hair allows the scalp to “breathe” better, protecting it from the sun. This means being able to put in more effort before needing to rest with water or in the shade.

As people moved away from the tropics, their hair lost its curl, but it was still there because it was still needed. The study was also published in the journal bioRxiv and is still in the “preprints” stage.

In the future, traffic lights may have a fourth color

As more and more driverless cars come into use, driving on the road can become a problem in the sense that the traffic will be congested and, with no one to stop to calm down, drivers will create traffic jams and untold traffic jams.

To avoid such undesirable situations, a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina, USA, published a study that explains why a fourth color is needed at traffic lights.

This color will be white (yes, we know, white is not a color, but a shade). It will only apply to private drivers, not autonomous cars. Self-driving cars communicate with each other anyway, so they won’t need it. This color lights up when drivers are told to follow the car in front.

Thus, as computer modeling showed, traffic will become much smoother and allow cars to leave the intersection without creating traffic jams. In addition, it will significantly reduce fuel consumption. Once the number of autonomous vehicles drops below 30% of the total number present at the intersection, drivers can once again coordinate using only the three classic traffic light colors.

For now, this proposal remains only at the stage of…proposals. The authors of the study, published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, admit that the implementation of this system would cost a lot of money, but they said that perhaps a pilot program would convince the authorities that it is better.

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