From MSN Style:
Ladies, it's official: we are becoming more beautiful. Scientists have found that evolution is making us girls increasingly more attractive, while men, apparently, still have the same rugged looks as their cavemen ancestors.
How has this happened? Well, researchers have discovered that beautiful women have more children - and that a higher proportion of those children are female. As the mother's genes dictate their children will grow up to be attractive, the beauty pattern is continued.
University of Helsinki researcher Markus Jokela found beautiful women had up to 16% more children than their more plain counterparts. His work follows on from previous research conducted by Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics. Kanazawa discovered that good-looking parents were far more likely to conceive daughters, an evolutionary strategy subtly programmed into human DNA, he argued.
“If more attractive parents have more daughters and if physical attractiveness is inheritable, it logically follows that women over many generations gradually become more physically attractive on average than men,” said Kanazawa.
When it comes to the stronger sex however, good looks are apparently less important for evolution, since handsome men are no more successful than others when it comes to producing offspring. Hence there has been little pressure for men’s appearance to evolve.
The fact that children can inherit attractiveness is widely accepted. When Elizabeth Jagger became a model, her mother Jerry Hall, said: “It’s in her genes.”
We take a look at the beautiful mothers who have passed on their attractive qualities to their daughters.
How has this happened? Well, researchers have discovered that beautiful women have more children - and that a higher proportion of those children are female. As the mother's genes dictate their children will grow up to be attractive, the beauty pattern is continued.
University of Helsinki researcher Markus Jokela found beautiful women had up to 16% more children than their more plain counterparts. His work follows on from previous research conducted by Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics. Kanazawa discovered that good-looking parents were far more likely to conceive daughters, an evolutionary strategy subtly programmed into human DNA, he argued.
“If more attractive parents have more daughters and if physical attractiveness is inheritable, it logically follows that women over many generations gradually become more physically attractive on average than men,” said Kanazawa.
When it comes to the stronger sex however, good looks are apparently less important for evolution, since handsome men are no more successful than others when it comes to producing offspring. Hence there has been little pressure for men’s appearance to evolve.
The fact that children can inherit attractiveness is widely accepted. When Elizabeth Jagger became a model, her mother Jerry Hall, said: “It’s in her genes.”
We take a look at the beautiful mothers who have passed on their attractive qualities to their daughters.