Did beards evolve to help men absorb punches?

And other stories from the stranger side of life

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Beards evolved to help men safely absorb blows to the head, according to a new study. Researchers say their tests discovered that beards acted as shock absorbers that dispersed the energy from a punch enough to prevent the jaw from fracturing. “We found that fully furred samples were capable of absorbing more energy than plucked and sheared samples,” say biologists Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway and David Carrier.

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