Evolution has largely deprived us of our ability to swivel our ears, but those vestigial muscles still activate when we listen intently, according to new research.

“The exact reason these became vestigial is difficult to tell, as our ancestors lost this ability about 25 million years ago, ...

John Kounios is a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Drexel University. He is co-author of The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain (Random House, 2015) and ...

Inspect the scalp for hair growth patterns ... of the parietal hair whorl is several centimeters anterior to the posterior fontanel. Hair whorl locations are described in relation to the midline.

Vestigial ear muscles activate during focused listening, revealing a hidden link to our auditory past and evolution.

Tens of millions of years ago, our primate ancestors responded to noises in much the same way many other mammals do, pricking their ears and deftly turning them towards the sound's source.

Summary: Humans have vestigial ear muscles that once helped our ancestors focus on sounds. New research shows these muscles still activate when we strain to hear in noisy environments. Scientists used ...

If you can wiggle your ears, you can use muscles that helped our distant ancestors listen closely. These auricular muscles helped change the shape of the pinna, or the shell of the ear, funneling ...

To learn more about these small ear muscles, Hackley and colleagues recruited 20 participants with normal hearing and attached electrodes to their scalp to track electrical activity in their superior ...

When sounds came from behind a participant, the posterior auricular muscles contracted as if attempting ... are three large muscles which connect the auricle to the skull and scalp and are important ...

Typical treatment for this condition is the use of oral antifungals for 6 to 8 weeks; corticosteroids may be prescribed for cases of tenderness and scalp pain. Concurrently, posterior cervical ...

Study first author Andreas Schröer, of Saarland University in Germany, said: "There are three large muscles which connect the auricle to the skull and scalp and are important for ear wiggling.