ABSTRACT
Imagine a scientist sitting at home, looking through old family photos of her extended family – parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, great grandparents. Suddenly she thinks she sees a pattern. In all the photos of couples that have been together longest, both members appear to have attached or “adherent” earlobes (meaning their earlobes don’t really dangle below where the ear and side of the face come together). This is true regardless of the individuals’ sexual identities. Likewise, she notices that her family photos of couples whose relationships failed were ones in which the individuals had unattached or “free” earlobes (larger, more fleshy lobes that dangle slightly). “How strange,” the scientist thinks, “there’s no logical reason people would be attracted to others on the basis of their earlobes and it certainly wouldn’t affect their relationship success.” But the pattern bothers her over the next couple of weeks. She asks her friends for their extended family photos and finds the same pattern – that lasting couples are by and large composed of people with attached earlobes.
