Lindolirian this could be an interesting thread. As for your first question, it seems that except for their immortality and superficial physical aspects (such as their "maybe" pointed ears and outrageous good looks) Elves were biologically the same as humans. The determining factor being that Elves and Men could breed, and their offspring were not sterile.
As for beardless hobbits and elves, I can't really find what makes a race beardless or not. In our own world, the indigeous races of South and North America are said to be beardless, as are Polynesians and some Asian races. But actually the beards are just extremely thin, and some of their men were capable of growing whiskers. Tolkien even states that the subgroup of Hobbits, the Stoors, did have thin beards.
I suppose the closest we have to Hobbits in this day and age are the "pygmy races of Equitorial Africa. They are beardless.
Interesting side note: reading about Pygmies, the description of them is remarkably like Hobbits. They were known to be very nimble, extremely good at archery and spear throwing (They even hunted elephants!), had a very highly developed sense of humor, and a light-hearted outlook on life, and really have no formal religious beliefs.
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