<quote>
...a new study suggests our eyebrows serve to control how easily other people can tell where we are looking.

</quote>

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2007/07/so-thats-what-eyebrows-are-for.html


and here I thought they were to draw attention away from the nose.

Oppy you're a dream boat. Those pix you sent me: wow!!! That's so sweet. Please send more. Thnks.

I can't send. Please see the error messagE: "This site has exceeded the allotted bandwidth." Please f1x!

I will make do with what I have. Do you mind if I photoshop your eyebrows out?

Eyebrows are ugly blue caterpillars.

One comment on photoshopping my eyes out; it may make it hard to tell which way I am looking.  Will a photo like that make you uneasy?

I always presumed they directed water and sweat away from the eyes.

mine are unnnaturally thick and bushy and meet in the middle. Ive always seen them as a way for god to punish me unmercifully.

A straightforward explanation like that isn't going to get you published in the Journal of Social Psychology now is it Mr. Forbes?

+1 DF

I think Oppy has it right in this case.  It's a study written by somebody who has probably never done any heavy labor.  They inherent value of eyebrows becomes apparent then.

I don't doubt that they're useful for signaling, but keeping my vision clear is a major benefit that I really appreciate, and would have an obvious survival value.

George Carlin has a nice routine where he points out that one reason we like dogs so much is that they have very "expressive" eyebrows -- happy, sad, quizzical eyebrow shapes.  He demonstrates, which is very funny, as his eyebrows are pretty expressive too.

And note that for "Finding Nemo", they HAD to give the fish eyebrow shapes on their 'foreheads' (and move their eyes so they could see out of the front of their heads.  Oh, and make them talk...) in order to give the fish the emotional expressiveness needed to make the story work.

AND I guess, given we have no fur or hair on our foreheads otherwise, they serve to keep the sweat out of your eyes.  But that "expression emotions" thing is also very important.