In other news...
(Score:4, Funny)
by GillBates0 (664202)
on Tuesday February 14, @05:50PM (#14720142)
(http://slashdot.org/~GillBates0 | Last Journal: Thursday October 20, @01:54PM)
(http://slashdot.org/~GillBates0 | Last Journal: Thursday October 20, @01:54PM)
...scientists have determined that the human appendix is not an
evolutionary anomaly as previously thought, but an intelligent design
feature aimed at keeping the humans guessing as to it's actual
function.
I've always had a problem with that view of the appendix. First off,
one of the assertions made (e.g. by Joseph McCabe in 1912, and often
cited since) is that, even if the appendix had some function (which
recent research has been inconclusive on), it would clearly have been a
greater function in the past in order to have been enough of a survival
trait to be incorporated so universally into human anatomy. This,
however, overlooks the fact that nearly all human organs had different
purposes at one point in our evolution, and thus ANY non-essential
organ, no matter how important would be considered "vestigal".
The other problem is that teh appendix has not gone away. One would expect that, at least in some large sample of humans, an organ that truly was useless would have gone away. This leads one to surmise that it serves some function which, while non-essential (you can live without it, after all) is almost certainly a survival trait in the broader context of humanity. Possible functions that would suit this purpose could include: reduction of harmful contaminants in food (possibly colesterol, which has been studdied recently); mitigation of some disease effects; and quite possibly a physical role in digestion (e.g. preventing certain kinds of particulate food from moving through the intestines as quickly as some other kinds).
These are all guesses, but what is known is that most "useless" organs have at one point or another in our history been determined to serve a crucial role. Even the brain was once thought to be nothing more than padding, protecting the eyes and neck.
slashdotlink
And in totally unrelated news, the Mozilla foundation recently announced that their flagship browser Firefox shall soon be renamed to Bigfoot, to reflect the software's large memory footprint.
More breaking news on these topics at 11.
slashdotlink
Re:In other news...
(Score:2)
by ajs (35943) <ajs@ajs.cCURIEom minus physicist>
on Tuesday February 14, @08:21PM (#14721212)
(http://www.ajs.com/~ajs/)
(http://www.ajs.com/~ajs/)
The other problem is that teh appendix has not gone away. One would expect that, at least in some large sample of humans, an organ that truly was useless would have gone away. This leads one to surmise that it serves some function which, while non-essential (you can live without it, after all) is almost certainly a survival trait in the broader context of humanity. Possible functions that would suit this purpose could include: reduction of harmful contaminants in food (possibly colesterol, which has been studdied recently); mitigation of some disease effects; and quite possibly a physical role in digestion (e.g. preventing certain kinds of particulate food from moving through the intestines as quickly as some other kinds).
These are all guesses, but what is known is that most "useless" organs have at one point or another in our history been determined to serve a crucial role. Even the brain was once thought to be nothing more than padding, protecting the eyes and neck.
slashdotlink
Thanks for the post! I enjoyed it. I'm looking for easy and effective way to cholestrol natural and I learned something new.
Posted by: nicole | August 23, 2010 at 07:46 AM