THIS week we bring you more winning entries to the Feedback Christmas Competition, in which readers were asked to select a human trait or behaviour and give their own evolutionary explanation for its existence.
HOW do we explain the evolutionary trait of 鈥渂eer goggles鈥�, the well-known phenomenon of members of the opposite sex becoming more attractive the more beer one drinks?
This is due to the fact that beer is actually a parasite. In fact it has now parasitised standard human courtship behaviour to such an extent that little mating is possible without beer first being replicated many, many times.
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This success is further reinforced by two other evolutionary tricks beer has evolved to complement its manipulation of human behaviour. 鈥淏rewer鈥檚 droop鈥� in males and the typical self revulsion felt in both sexes the morning after, when they realise what they鈥檝e done, inevitably lead to further successful replication of beer the following evening 鈥� and so the cycle continues.
Dan Meredith, Wolston, Warwickshire, UK
WHY do men carry a newspaper to the toilet and take a long time there?
These are peculiarly male habits and were initially acts of defiance and defence. Members of a tribal group shared the same diet and had a similar odour that 鈥渇oreigners鈥� would recognise if crossing boundaries, so the men went as far as possible from their home camp to defecate and mark their territorial claims. By entering a neighbouring territory to defecate, men would show defiance to their neighbours, and by taking a long time over the action, demonstrate their bravery to fellow tribal members. However, this was not without risk, so it was normal to carry a weapon in case of ambush.
Consequently, not only do modern men require the comfort of something to carry, but the habits of taking a long time, boasting about where they have been, and producing a strong recognisable odour have also persisted.
Mark Selby, Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire, UK
WHY do gentlemen prefer blondes?
Since blonde hair, blue eyes and short stature are all products of recessive genes, a male who chooses a female with these characteristics can be sure that his genes will predominate in their offspring. This leads to a greater certainty that the children she produces are his (always a big worry for the male on the evolutionary score chart) because they are more likely to demonstrate his characteristics. Hence blondes are the most desirable mates.
Penny Hyslop, Cheam, Surrey, UK
WHY is it that so many scientists seem to wear glasses?
In evolutionary terms, hunter-gatherers with poor vision were seriously disadvantaged. These unfortunates were deemed a burden on the tribe and left to fend for themselves. So those with poor vision had to become useful to the tribe in other ways.
To survive, they had to develop skills that were useful to the tribe, such as working with objects close up. So they made small delicate objects, and produced designs on slate or wood.
While working on these, they theorised about such matters as 鈥渃ould this round object be used as a means to transport heavy materials from the hunting grounds?鈥� or 鈥渋f this piece of meat was introduced to fire, would it taste better and last longer?鈥�
In this way, these proto-scientists ensured their survival. The hunters and gatherers fed them because they were useful.
Rhodri Jones, Nottingham, UK
WHY is a scene of mountains, water, trees, sun, snow, etcetera so heart-warming and beautiful?
As human beings evolved and became thinking, reasoning creatures, life must have been hard, brutish and short. As they were able to look to the future and see more of their hard life ahead of them, there had to be something to make life seem worthwhile.
Those people who could look at a breathtaking scene and feel uplifted were more likely to fight to continue their existence. Those that viewed scenery as simply a collection of trees, grasses and some rocks were selected out of the gene pool.
Damian Wise, Portland, Oregon, US
FINALLY, among the winners published in our last issue we included Eamonn O鈥橰iordan鈥檚 explanation of why men don鈥檛 ask for directions. We felt O鈥橰iordan just had the edge over Alec Cawley鈥檚 explanation of the same phenomenon, but it was so close we鈥檝e decided to publish Cawley鈥檚 explanation as well and include him among the winners.
WHY won鈥檛 men ask the way?
This dates back to the hunter-gatherer days of primitive humans. People lived in small tribes, and the men went out on long forays for game. If they saw another human, it was probably from another tribe, who would be likely to attack a stranger. It would therefore be very dangerous to ask the way, and was selected against. Women, meanwhile, tended to gather food locally, so that anybody encountered was probably from the same tribe and safe to ask.
Alec Cawley, Newbury, Berkshire, UK
ALL six winners will receive a prize of a bottle of Famous Grouse whisky and a copy of Y: The Descent of Man by Steve Jones.
Next week, Feedback returns to normal.