Scientists have finally uncovered the answer to the age-old question of why men have bigger noses than women.
Scientists have finally uncovered the answer to the age-old question of why men have bigger noses than women.
Using data from the Iowa Facial Growth Study, researchers at the University of Iowa have determined that men’s noses are on average 10 percent larger than women’s.
They then discovered that it’s because noses are sized according to how much oxygen is needed to maintain a person’s body.
Men generally have more lean muscle mass than women, which requires that they take in larger doses of oxygen.
To adequately do the job, their nasal cavities need to be larger.
This was discovered by tracking the growth patterns of 38 people for about 22 years.
When the participants were young there was little variation between the sizes of female and male noses.
At age 11, which for many marked the onset of puberty, the men’s started to grow faster.
The researchers noted that they found correlating increases in metabolisms and the consumption of energy.
Women, on the other hand, had less dramatic spikes in the need for an increased oxygen supply.
That held true even if the men and women had similar body sizes.
