It’s all because of expressive eyebrows

That Meghan Markle has lost the “battle of the eyebrows” to her soon-to-be sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge in a recent UK survey should have been dismissed as a nonsensical bit of celebrity news had it not been for the fact that many scientists now believe the human race’s pre-eminence is due in no small measure to our supraorbital supercilia.

In other words, how the would-be American princess will fare in the House of Windsor may well depend on her brows, as expressive eyebrows are what made us humans more highbrow than our Neanderthal cousins and helped us to eventually rule the world. This is no mean feat for a mere pair of hirsute arches dividing foreheads from eyes.

So, every time Shahrukh Khan, Rajinikanth or Angelina Jolie raise a supercilious, flirtatious, querulous or quizzical eyebrow to the delirious delight of millions of fans, remember they are merely reasserting the fundamental trait that helped prehistoric humans prevail: the ability to signal emotion and empathy to establish large social networks needed to survive the last Ice Age.


Indian classical dance forms also demonstrate how eyebrows can be manipulated to convey a myriad of emotions; clearly, it is a skill that has the most ancient antecedents. Deserving or not, it is time to raise an eyebrow to the human race’s ability to get along to get ahead.