I Just Learned Why Parka Hoods Have Fur, And It's More Impressive Than I Thought

Fur lined parka hoodYou might already know that the buttons on suit jackets have a surprisingly medical history, or that those tiny pockets in your jeans were originally meant for timepieces. Yes, I’ll grant you, the fur and faux fur lining the outside of our hoods seems like more of an obvious addition. It can help to keep rain and snow out of our eyes, looks great, and feels cosy. Case closed, right? Well, I’d have thought so – but it turns out that there’s more science going on behind the hood than I ever knew.Fur on hoods provides a seriously clever air bufferA 2004 paper noted that traditional Inuit clothing, which is the origin of fur-trimmed hoods, hems, and cuffs, is “the most effective cold weather clothing developed to date”. To help work out why this technology was so incredibly effective, scientists looked at the effects of various Inuit fur-lined hoods on heated dummy faces in a cold wind tunnel. When it’s windy, friction created by the fur causes molecules to collide near the skin in what is called a “boundary layer” of stiller air. This protects the face – the thicker the “boundary layer” is, the less cold and wind your skin is exposed to.The researchers found that the fur on traditional Inuit garments helped to change the way that air flows around the face, especially in a “sunburst” formation, maximising this “boundary layer” and insulating skin far better than alternatives. Heat transfer was also lower.The genius of this specialised cold weather design and other traditional ones like it, another group of researchers posited in 2016, may have been the reason early modern humans survived while Neanderthals died out.Are all fur-lined hoods equal? The 2004 paper didn’t compare real fur to faux fur. But it did find that hairs of different lengths – “sunburst”-style – insulated far better than hairs of the same length.Because faux fur is made and cut, not grown, it’s far more likely to be even.Even within animal furs, not all are made equal.Wolverine fur, for instance, prevents ice crystal formation. And if you remember the 2016 study we mentioned earlier, the scientists found that early humans, whose cold-weather clothing was far more effective than that of Neanderthals, used more leporids, canids, and mustelids for their garments. It’s unlikely your parka can compare to that tech, though it probably doesn’t need to – most of us don’t battle such extreme cold.Still, it’s certainly made me look at my hoods a lot differently.Related...I Just Learned Why Suit Jackets Have Sleeve Buttons, And I Had No IdeaI Just Learned Why Jeans Have That Tiny Pocket, And It's Not Why I ThoughtPeople Are Just Realising Why Sweatshirts Have That V Under The Collar, And It's Gross

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