Why Do Humans Have A Philtrum? An Evolutionary Biologist Explains The Groove Above Your Lip ^8.7%

Forbes - By Scott Travers - 6/27/2026, 2:05 PM

Appeal to Authority 16.7% - Overconfidence Bias 15.6% - Ambiguity (Equivocation) 15.4%

That small groove between your nose and upper lip has a name most people have never heard: the philtrum. It's one of the most visible features on the human face, and almost nobody thinks about it. Which is a shame, because what it actually is, and why it’s there, turns out to be one of the stranger stories in vertebrate biology. To... more