Thursday, February 28, 2008

Are you a throwback? Check your ear.

When I was a kid I was totally fascinated by this little bump on my right ear. If I feel the outside of my ear, along the edge, I can still feel that little bump. Maybe you have a little cartilage there too. Do you?

It's called Darwin's point and is a relic of our mammalian past.

The heritable trait runs dominant, which means if either of your parents gave you a gene for the point, you'll express the trait and have a little bump on your ear too.

According to the article "On the Pithecoid Type of Ear in Man" published in 1899 by the Zoological Bulletin, half of men and one-third of women have one. Several decades before, when the pseudoscience of phrenology was all the rage, people thought the trait was associated with criminality. It's tied to criminal propensity as much as it is to the appendix, which is to say — not at all.

13 comments:

Mandi said...

Whoa! I learn something new every day! I have that bump on my ear too! Hmmm... should I feel special? ;-)

CREATEaTHOUGHT said...

Hey I have a bump!
Thanks for the mini comment I did it!

Marissa L. Swinghammer said...

I have it! And you had better believe I will be checking my baby and my husband for it tomorrow morning.

He's going to think I have gone off my nutter!

Thanks for this fun post.

trinlayk said...

aren't we still mammalian and primates?

Mrs.Kwitty said...

Oh, no bump here. I feel a little let down now. lol not really! It's interesting, and I'm gonna have to check hub and the kids tomorrow.
Smiles, Karen

SavageBabble said...

I always told my kids it was a place where god stopped for a second while glueing the ears on. You know like when you stop with your hot glue gun and it kind of globs up. Also happens with worms where they have that weird fatter band around them.

comebacknikki said...

I have it, too! Very cool - I never heard about this before!

Amy Lilley Designs said...

well, you certainly have an interesting blog!!!!!...found you in the etsy thread about blogging...LOVE the patten leather heels...I'm an ex-NYC girl, and we just LOVE our shoes..al la Carrie Bradshaw...continued success!

LoveMeKnot Creations said...

*gasp* i have one too! eek!

Anonymous said...

Nifty - never would have guessed. I have one! :)

Waterrose said...

so what does it mean if one ear has it and the other doesn't?

Rose-Segrest said...

lol, I have one, when I was in middle school the freakin kids used to call me elf ear...I am not bitter...really i am not..lol

j said...

I am planning on linking to this post on my blog tomorrow. It goes right along with a story that I wanted to share from college.

I have a bump by the way. :)

Have a great day.