Goosebumps cause hair growth

Getting cold, or frightened, won't just make your hair stand on end, it might also make it grow according to a new study from Harvard University. Yulia Shwartz and her colleagues have found that the nerves that cause the muscles to contract and lift up hairs, giving us goose pimples in the process, also send a message to the cells in the follicles that produce hairs, making them grow. It probably won't help us to combat baldness, and we don't know if it applies to humans more generally, but it does explain the prolific winter coat that some animals grow in the cold. Cambridge dermatologist Jane Sterling took Chris Smith through the findings…