No one wants to give out their inner feelings and feelings. But in the human nervous system there is a hidden treacherous spring that causes an uncontrollable rush of blood to the face, when the individual begins to lie, dodge, gets into an awkward position and realizes that all his tricks are well understood by those around him - those from whom he wanted to hide his secret plans …
Happy, however, are those who have iron nerves and know how to lie without batting an eye, or who have facial capillaries hidden deep under the skin - deeper than most people. These can come up and not blush indefinitely.
And yet the mystery remains.
When New Scientist asked evolutionary biologists to name the biggest gaps and voids in their knowledge system to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth this year, some pointed to the mystery of how life began. Others point to a missing link in a common ancestor that would link homosapiens and chimpanzees.
And only one scientist - Professor Franz de Waal from the University of Emory in the USA, unlike others, unexpectedly expressed an original idea, which draws attention to the London Daily Mail.
From his point of view, one of the greatest gaps in the theory of evolution is the lack of a clear explanation of why people, being in an awkward position or being caught in a lie, begin to blush - they are covered with treacherous paint that betrays them headlong, sending an obvious signal to others - that's, he, before you - a liar, a scoundrel, a deceiver.
What is most curious, Professor de Waal notes, that man possesses this quality of impersonating himself in this way, the only one of all primates living on Earth.
Of course, the technique of pouring paint to the face of a person who has fallen into an uncomfortable or compromising position is quite well-known: this happens every time the blood vessels located near the surface of the skin of the face, neck and chest suddenly open to receive increased blood flows.
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The vessels are opened by tiny muscles that are controlled by the autonomic nervous system - a network of nerves capable of producing reactions over which a person has absolutely no control.
Why this happened in human evolution, science does not clearly explain.
However, as Professor de Waal believes, the point is that the fear that a person has before the opportunity to blush and not be able to hide their feelings in this way makes people actually lie less.
Based on the fact that the biological structure of a person is determined by the forces of natural selection, the biologist concludes that the ability to express and demonstrate sincere honesty gave our ancestors an evolutionary advantage over those of their contemporaries who in this life looked for crooked paths, preferring lies to truth.
Professor Ray Crozier, a psychologist at the University of East Anglia, agrees with de Waal.
In a sense, he says, the fact of throwing paint in the face of a liar in a certain sense sends a signal to the group of people around him that he is ready to apologize, that is, it signals the feeling that someone knows about mistakes or unrighteous deeds.
And this, in turn, is emphasized by the psychologist, reduces the level of aggressiveness and makes other people more likely to forgive the offender.
In other words, the ability to blush helped a group of people at ancient stages of evolutionary development to minimize aggression - this turned out to be useful for the very person who was thrown into paint from shame.