The body, the almost perfect machine.

[K3NS31]

The shins are so designed so that we can find things in the dark...howbeit painfully ...

LOL

 

[Freshy-ZN]

An obvious flaw in the composition of the human body is that we do not have a protective layer of fat covering our shins.

I also think it would have made more sense to be built like a centaur.

This is weird. I was actually looking at my shin today (have a funny growth/bump I was thinking I should go have checked) and was wondering exactly the same thing.

 

[jboyx989]

The human spine requires an awkward curve that allows us to stand upright, this is not ideal.
Our mouths are too small to accommodate all the teeth we grow. In many cases theres simply no space left for wisdom teeth, hence the misery they so often bring.
Arched feet are not ideally suited for walking on flat ground.
Large percentage of human eyes go faulty.
Plantaris muscle in foot totally unneccessary.
Essential oxygen shares same tube as food intake tube, hence the risk of choking.
Goosebumps totally useless on hairless mammals.

All I can think of for now..

 

[copacetic]

What about nails and hair - is there a reason they have to grow ?

Fashion.

Durr.

 

[maumau]

no no no no no no no - the body is the absolute WORST design ever it's unnecessarily complicated. remember god is supposed to be all powerful and he could design anything he wanted to. we should have eyes like periscopes (lengthen on stalks and retract), wings, a convenient pouch for carrying necessities, everything foldable into a round or egg shape. instead our spines are covered with a measly piece of skin, body functions are revolting. IMHO eating in public should be banned, how do you like watching someone open their cakehole, fill it and chew while trying to carry on a coversation?

 

[K3NS31]

snip...
snip...
Plantaris muscle in foot totally unneccessary.
snip..

Agree with all the others, just wanted to point out that new information has invalidated these 2 points. (I think the 2nd is related to the first)

It turns out that the arch is vitally important to our ability to run, which is probably how we hunted in the pre-tool making days (we were eating meat, which we weren't scavenging, long before we were making tools). We literally ran the animals to death.
For an excellent explanation on this, read Christopher McDougall's brilliant "Born to Run". Or google "barefoot running" to get the basics.
The scientific study this is all based on is only available on paid University websites, so it's harder to get hold of, but you should find links to it on various barefoot running sites. I could never access the original, so I didn't bother to save the link, and the guy's name has slipped my mind. PM me if you can't find it and I'll look for it in my book. If you're interested.

 

[mfumbesi]

When last did you loose a nail: slammed in the car door, hit by a hammer, ripped toe nail while doing something stupid... etc etc. Perhaps not you, but it does happen to a lot of ppl. Without re-growth you'd have an exposed piece of flesh in a region that requires a lot of protection.

Never mind how screwed we would be on voting day still having last election's making

I'm with you on this one.
I lose a nail each year without fail. It is either when I'm doing a race (21km race, its a hobby) and wearing bad shoes or walking around with no shoes and bang I kick a rock and lift a nail. So the ability to grow nails is quite useful.

 

[Kornhub]

The foreskin was obviously there to protect the overly sensitive glans.
The tonsils are still debated if they are necessary or not. Supposedly they "absorb" germs as they consist out of immunocompetent tissues.
The appendix is NOT expendable: Read below:
The US scientists found that the appendix acted as a "good safe house" for bacteria essential for healthy digestion, in effect re-booting the digestive system after the host has contracted diseases such as amoebic dysentery or cholera, which kill off helpful germs and purge the gut.

This function has been made obsolete by modern, industrialised society; populations are now so dense that people pick up essential bacteria from each other, allowing gut organisms to regrow without help from the appendix, the researchers said.

But in earlier centuries, when vast tracts of land were more sparsely populated and whole regions could be wiped out by an epidemic of cholera, the appendix provided survivors with a vital individual stockpile of suitable bacteria.

"The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria that populates the human digestive system," said Bill Parker, a professor of surgery and one of the scientists responsible for establishing its status as a useful organ. "The location of the appendix, just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine, helps support the theory."

Other studies had shown that, in less-developed countries where the appendix may still be useful, the rate of appendicitis was lower than in the US, he said.

My appendix gone

 

[Palimino]

The tonsils are still debated if they are necessary or not. Supposedly they "absorb" germs as they consist out of immunocompetent tissues.
The appendix is NOT expendable:

Yeah, I heard that the tonsils are the vestigial remains of a filtration system. The appendix as well but I like your explanation better. I shall adopt it.

 

[Palimino]

When last did you loose a nail: slammed in the car door, hit by a hammer, ripped toe nail while doing something stupid... etc etc.

I find that swearing helps a lot. Anglo-Saxon is really bad for swearing, French is much better and you can swear elegantly in Arabic with no obscenity. English is bad at this.

 

[Redsbaron]

are any of your dietitians? I am thinking that the body is amazing machinary, hormone producing influencing a whole host of functions, even the way we look (built). Would like to study this maybe or read about all of this

 

[porchrat]

are any of your dietitians? I am thinking that the body is amazing machinary, hormone producing influencing a whole host of functions, even the way we look (built). Would like to study this maybe or read about all of this

If you wish to learn about the relationships between the various systems of the body study physiology and biochemistry. They are the 2 fundamental blocks upon which an understanding of the inner workings of the human body is based.

 

[stacy111]

yeah i think you are right ..human body is perfect machine.

 

[Ekstasis]

We know this for certain ?

What was their original purpose ?

the appendix was suppose to grow out as a wing, but then natural selection decided...nah this is not gonna be beneficial for the creature, he's too heavy to fly.

 

[warchylde]

The human body is an amazing piece of machinery.

You put stuff in, it turns it into energy and the waste is expelled - solids one way, fluids another.

And as long as you keep putting the correct stuff in the machine will keep on going ( until the parts eventually wear out ...)

It has a system for delivering fuel to every last cell of the body, old cells are continually replaced with new... quite remarkable.

Every component has a necessary function within this engine....-

....so why do we have an appendix, tonsils and a foreskin - all of which are expendable ?

appendix - "For years, the appendix was credited with very little physiological function. We now know, however, that the appendix serves an important role in the fetus and in young adults. Endocrine cells appear in the appendix of the human fetus at around the 11th week of development. These endocrine cells of the fetal appendix have been shown to produce various biogenic amines and peptide hormones, compounds that assist with various biological control (homeostatic) mechanisms. There had been little prior evidence of this or any other role of the appendix in animal research, because the appendix does not exist in domestic mammals.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-the-function-of-t

Tonsils - At one time many doctors believed that tonsils had no real purpose and often routinely removed them to avoid tonsillitis. Today, tonsils and adenoids are seen as perhaps the "first line of defense" against disease-causing germs that enter the body through the nose, mouth, or throat.

http://ehealthmd.com/content/what-tonsillitis

Foreskin - In male human anatomy, the foreskin is a generally retractable double-layered fold of skin and mucous membrane that covers the glans penis and protects the urinary meatus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreskin

Personally I would have said the last one is so we can fap better but hey - who argues with wiki?

 

[warchylde]

What about nails and hair - is there a reason they have to grow ?

Uhm so they can "replenish" otherwise they will wear out and you will look like a zombie :s

 

[Archer]

snip

Troll troll troll your boat

 

[K3NS31]

thread necromancy and repetition too.

nice extra info on the appendix though. That wasn't covered yet, although I think it was mentioned on page 2 that it's also used as a storage for GUT bacteria, so you can replenish after you get tummy problems and lose the ones you normally have. We don't need it so much anymore cos we live around so many people that we just get from them.

 

[Carneades]

Would anyone comment on the laryngeal nerve which detours to its destination in most mammals, in humans a few inches, in the giraffe over 10 feet!

 

[K3NS31]

Would anyone comment on the laryngeal nerve which detours to its destination in most mammals, in humans a few inches, in the giraffe over 10 feet!

Maybe G-Man was hung-over when he designed that. So he didn't draw straight on the blueprint, LOL