Researchers have long speculated on the benefits offered by the variety of human nose shapes, but few have looked inside the facial feature — or the larger nasal cavity of the skull — for an answer.
Marlijn Noback of Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, Germany, and her colleagues took computer-aided measurements of the sizes and shapes of nasal cavities (pictured) in a total of 100 skulls from 10 human groups living in 5 different climates. They found that individuals from cold, dry climates had higher and narrower cavities than those from hot, humid climates. The authors suggest that the high, narrow cavities may help to mix the air and increase its moisture content and temperature as it is inhaled.
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Air conditioning all in the nose. Nature 474, 423 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/474423e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/474423e
