SciCafe: At the Root of Human Hair

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

7-8 pm ET

A photograph of a woman's curly hair, her hand tousling a strand, illuminated by sunlight.
Courtesy of I. Mingazova/Unsplash
Why do humans have the bulk of our hair on our heads, not our bodies? 

This important but often neglected evolutionary question is central to the work of Tina Lasisi, a biological anthropologist at the University of Southern California. In this SciCafe, Lasisi will tease out the mysteries behind why humans have scalp hair and why we may have developed different hair textures as we’ve evolved. She will share the unique methods used in her research, including the use of robots with wigs to understand the thermoregulatory role of scalp hair and its protection against solar radiation, as well as her insights on why tightly curled hair is unique to our species. 

Resources for SciCafe’s Frequent Geeks 

Tina Lasisi, a biological anthropologist at the University of Southern California, studies the evolution of human scalp hair, and seeks to understand why tightly curled hair is unique to our species. She suggests the following resources for more on this topic:

Quick Pick: Her feature on NPR’s Short Wave Podcast: How to Talk About Hair Like a Scientist 

Big Bite: Her article in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Quantifying Variation in Human Scalp Hair Fiber Shape and Pigmentation

Deep Dive: Her Ph.D. dissertation: The Genetic Architecture and Evolutionary Function of Human Scalp Hair Morphology

Tina Lasisi Ph.D. Dissertation

SciCafe: At the Root of Human Hair is presented in collaboration with The Leakey Foundation.