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Science Quickly

We weren’t supposed to have chins

Mittwoch, 1. April 2026 · 14 min

MP3

Shownotes

Humans are the only species that has chins. How this unique trait evolved has always been somewhat of a mystery. In this episode of Science Quickly, host Kendra Pierre-Louis talks to paleoanthropologist Lauren Schroeder, who co-authored a recent study that sheds light on the evolutionary riddle of the chin and the ways that evolution can sometimes occur unexpectedly.

Recommended Reading:

“Is the Human Chin a Spandrel? Insights from an Evolutionary Analysis of Ape Craniomandibular Form,” by Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel et al, in PLOS One, Vol. 21, No. 1; January 29, 2026 (journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/j…)

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: scientificamerican.com/getsciam/?utm_source=pr… to Scientific American and sign up (scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferenc…) for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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