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. Reading time 3 minutes Tens of ...

We've all surely met someone who has the ability to move their ears, but why is such a thing so rare? One of the most interesting vestigial structures in our bodies are the auricular muscles. These ...

Evolution has left humans with many vestigial traits—remnants of once-useful biological features that serve little or no ...

In almost every species, ear movement can be a clue that the animal is trying to pay close attention to something. When people are trying hard to listen to something, the body seems to do its best to ...

Francesca has an MSci in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham.View full profile Francesca has an MSci in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham. Thought to be pretty redundant in ...

Vestigial human ear muscles react to sounds even if the external ear does not move. This could be used to build better earing aids. If you hear something interesting, you might prick up your ears.

When people are trying hard to listen to something, the body seems to do its best to "prick up its ears," even though this ability was lost by our evolutionary ancestors millions of years ago. That's ...