Posted : November 2013
Author : Mary Mckee
It is hard to believe that we have any organs that are truly
“useless” in our bodies. Still, when it comes to a burst appendix and wisdom
teeth we don’t bat an eye at removing them. Here are 10 of the most useless
organs in and on your body.
We might not think about this much, but really they don’t
serve a purpose. So why have them? I guess it’s all for looks.
2. Appendix
While Darwin claimed that the appendix was useful at one
time, mostly during our early plant-eating digestive years, the father of
evolution also admitted that today it serves very little or no purpose. This is
largely because we learned how to cook to make our foods more easily
digestible.
3. Wisdom Teeth
Let’s be realistic – cave men didn’t brush and floss, so
obviously they lost a few teeth along the way. That made these extra “wisdom
teeth” useful until the dentist became common. Now they just – ouch!
4. Erector Pili
This is the contraption in your skin that gives you goose
bumps. A good indicator that something is freaking you out, but other than that
today it doesn’t do much good. Erector Pili originally would make us look
bigger and scarier in fear based situations, but now we don’t have as much hair
and we just look like a naked chicken.
5. Coccyx
The Coccyx, or more aptly named the tailbone, is several
fused vertebrae at the bottom of the spine left over from when we used to have
tails.
6. Tonsils
Similar to the appendix, tonsils seem to be pesky and prone
to swelling and infection. Most of us don’t make to 30 with them still intact.
7. Adenoids
Prone to swelling and infection you often lose these along
with your tonsils. They do technically serve a kind of purpose – trapping
bacteria – but still they shrink as we get older and we don’t really miss them
when they’re gone.
8. Sinuses
Sinuses are mostly a mystery for doctors – we mostly just
know that we have a lot of them. There are theories that they are eye
insulation or determine the pitch and tone of our voice.
9. Body Hair
Up until almost 3 million years ago, we were much hairier,
but when the ability to sweat came along we lost the wool coats!
10. Plica Semilunaris (Third eyelid)
Originally part of a “Nictitating membrane,” the Plica
Semilunaris is the little third lid located right next to your tear duct.
Animals like chickens, lizards, and sharks still have the full membrane, but we
obviously don’t use ours anymore.
~Blog Admin~
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