Humans’ Wounds Heal Much More Slowly Than Other Mammals’
Humans’ Wounds Heal Much More Slowly Than Other Mammals’
We naked apes need Band-Aids, but shedding the fur that speeds healing in other mammals may have helped us evolve other abilities.
Read the full article on NY Times Science
Truth Analysis
Analysis Summary:
The article's central claim about humans' slower wound healing compared to other mammals is generally supported by the provided sources. However, the snippet's phrasing suggests a potential evolutionary trade-off, which is not directly addressed or verified by the sources, introducing a degree of speculation. The article exhibits a slight bias by framing the slower healing as a consequence of losing fur, implying a direct causal relationship without sufficient evidence.
Detailed Analysis:
- Claim: Humans’ Wounds Heal Much More Slowly Than Other Mammals’.
- Verification Source #1: Supports this claim, stating that human skin defects heal significantly slower than those of examined primates and experimental animals.
- Claim: We naked apes need Band-Aids.
- This is a reasonable inference given the slower healing rate, but not directly verifiable by the provided sources. It is a common understanding that humans use bandages to protect wounds.
- Claim: Shedding the fur that speeds healing in other mammals may have helped us evolve other abilities.
- This is a speculative statement. While the loss of fur is a known evolutionary trait, the direct link to wound healing speed and the subsequent evolution of other abilities is not explicitly supported by the provided sources. This introduces a potential bias by suggesting a causal relationship without direct evidence.
Supporting Evidence/Contradictions:
- Verification Source #1: "The average healing rate of human skin defects was of 11.8 mm 2 per day, more than five times slower than those of all examined primates and experimental animals." This strongly supports the claim that human wound healing is slower than in other mammals.
- Verification Source #4: Discusses wound healing in mice lacking DETCs, which heal "much more slowly than normal—very much like mice." This provides an example of how specific biological factors can affect wound healing speed in mammals.
- Verification Source #3: Shows that psychological stress can affect wound healing speed. This suggests that multiple factors influence wound healing, and the article's focus on fur as the primary factor might be an oversimplification.
- The provided sources do not directly address the evolutionary trade-off aspect of the claim, leaving it unverified and potentially biased.