By: Adam Ziegler, Matthew Papp, Shivam Gandhi, Nikolas Steege, Bio323 Evolution, Fall 2019, Stonehill College
Let’s face it, we all sweat. Despite sweat being such a common and prominent aspect of everyday life, not many people understand what causes sweating, or why not all mammals sweat. A recent paper explored the difference in human sweat compared to other primates from compiled data sets across three phylogenetic models. The research focused on the two glands that are primarily involved in sweating, the apocrine and eccrine glands. By combining glycogen concentration, climate, and distribution of glands, the authors were able to predict the eccrine gland ancestral relationship. The results show exactly how humans have come to evolve the current gland distribution and offer a previously unstudied insight into our ancestors.
