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Faster than you can blink an eye, we typed "purpose of eyebrows" into the Yahoo! search box. We didn't receive any Yahoo! categories, but the web page matches proved to be just what we were looking for. The first site listed, The Straight Dope, was one we've visited several times before, and it always provides a lucid answer to queries. It didn't let us down this time. It seems the consensus is that eyebrows are there to keep the sweat and rain out of our eyes. Try running a couple of miles and having salty sweat run down in your eyes. You'll appreciate those little caterpillar-like things. Our next stop was HowStuffWorks, another site we regularly visit to find answers for this column. They explain that scientists aren't sure why we lost most of the hair on our bodies as we evolved but retained the hair above our eyes. Their best guess is that the arch shape of the eyebrow diverts rain or sweat down our cheeks, keeping our eyes dry. This was an important feature for early man to retain. It's difficult to outrun a predator if you have sweat in your eyes and can't see where you're going. Finally, Ask a Scientist adds that eyebrows also help us to communicate. Sometimes a raised eyebrow is more effective than words. So aside from providing a convenient location
for a facial piercing, it appears that eyebrows actually do serve a purpose.
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