Have you ever wondered why human faces are so diverse?

It's Thanks to Evolution That No Two Faces Are Alike, Study Finds....



In 2011, a team of researchers conducted a study on a species of insects known as the paper wasps. These individuals use their distinct faces and body patterns/colors for identification. This ultimately helps them identify their social hierarchy. This study has proposed a new question to our own species...is the reason for our evolved facial diversity used to help humans better recognize one another?
"The shape and configuration of a human face are much more variable, compared with other body parts, the study found. What's more, genes that have been linked to face structure vary more than DNA in other regions of the body. This suggests that the forces of evolution have selected for facial diversity, perhaps to make individuals more recognizable to other people, the researchers say."
This means an individual can actually benefit from having a different and unique facial structure. The new study conducted by a research team, analyzed a U.S. Army database that includes dozens of face and body measurements for thousands of its service members. Sheehan's team found that most body parts are internally consistent. Face parts, in contrast, are not predictable. The researchers then looked at the genome sequences for 836 people from all different ethnic and social backgrounds. They then looked specifically at 59 stretches of DNA previously linked to facial features. These DNA codes were more variable than the rest of the genome itself.
"To get a sense of when this diversity cropped up during human evolution, the researchers also compared the DNA of modern humans to that of a Neanderthal individual and of a Denisovan, another early human relative. In both the modern and ancient DNA, two genes—one related to the distance between the chin and bridge of the nose, and the other to nose shape—had similar levels of variability, suggesting that facial diversity evolved before modern humans did. That high level of genetic variability probably means that evolutionary forces are at play in shaping the diversity of faces, the authors say."

I find this article very interesting. Who knew that our faces were evolved to better help us identify each other. I think more research needs to be conducted, but it is still interesting and explains a lot about human beings as a species.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140916-faces-evolution-cognition-social-recognition-genetics/
another article from the Washington post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/09/18/why-do-human-faces-look-so-different-evolution-made-us-that-way/