Evolution sometimes does not fulfill its duty, leaving us with extremely useless parts.
The modern human body today is certainly not the same as the ancestors of the past. Evolution has brought many changes, including the body adapting to new social activities. This leads to many parts, no longer matching the times and gradually degenerating, leaving only a few traces of the harsh survival period.
Try outstretched hand grip and wrist stretch. If you see a raised tendon, you are among the “lucky” 10% of the world’s population to have it.
This part is called the “long palmar muscle” , and it’s… completely useless. In fact, it was useful in the past, at a time when people needed this muscle group to climb on their forearms. It helps to increase grip strength, thereby helping the ancients cling to objects more easily.
To prove this, a study was done in 2014 showing that primates that often climb such as monkeys, lemurs … have very long palmar muscles. Whereas in gorillas, chimpanzees, apes and even humans, this part is much shorter.
Nowadays, people do not need to climb trees anymore, so this muscle group also gradually degenerates. Now, aside from serving as evidence to support Darwin’s theory of evolution, it no longer works.
To be more specific, experts say palmaris longus is the remains of our ancestors who used their forelimbs to climb.
Today, however, having it or not does not make our grip or muscles weaker. In other words, aside from serving as evidence to support Darwin’s theory of evolution, this part… is useless.
The appendix – just as the name of it is given by mankind – is a rather redundant organ, which easily causes inflammation. People who have undergone appendectomy do not feel any different and continue with their normal lives.
In fact, scientists have proven that the appendix exists to protect the immune system, by storing beneficial bacteria in it. The reason for this mechanism is that the stomach and intestinal systems will always try to get rid of bacteria, but do not distinguish between beneficial bacteria and pathogenic bacteria. So, the good bacteria will have to find shelter, and they will choose the appendix.
Overall, this was a pretty useful mechanism in the past – when medicine was not yet developed. But today, the appendix is no longer useful, and easily becomes a potentially deadly infection. So no matter how much it is defended, most agree that this gut… is just superfluous.
The coccyx is the bone at the end of the spine, and it is proof that our ancestors once… had a tail.
In animals, the tail is the part that helps us maintain balance and good mobility. But when humans learned to walk on two legs, the existence of a tail suddenly became meaningless. So over time, it disappeared, leaving only the coccyx.
All mammals have a special organ called a vomeronasal organ. It is located in the nasal cavity, believed to be an accessory organ involved in the sense of smell. However, for humans, this organ has absolutely no effect, but is only a remnant of the evolutionary process. Because, after a lot of research, scientists have not found any evidence that VNO can function like other animals.
Surely many people have suffered because of this tooth. Light is painful, severe, it is so painful that I can’t eat anything, and I have to go to the dentist to solve it.
In fact, for the ancients, these teeth were quite important. Studies show that the skulls of human ancestors had larger jaws and more teeth, suitable for chewing hard foods. But over time, people’s eating habits also changed, leading to the fact that the jawbone gradually became smaller. For each crime, the remaining teeth do not disappear. They are still there, waiting until people are “old enough” to emerge and cause a lot of suffering.
Also known as “Darwin’s ear cartilage” . A sign that a person owns these ears is that there is a small piece of cartilage that protrudes towards the earlobe. The reason it has such a name is because Darwin was the first to mention it.
And its effect, nothing more than two words… useless, just a remnant of the evolutionary process.
Some people have the ability to move their ears, others do not. And to do that, your ears need a special muscle group.
The muscles in the ear have existed since time immemorial, to help ancestors direct their ears towards the sound, thereby increasing survival. Now that the human ear is smaller than before, this muscle group, besides being a pretty “cool” ability, has no use anymore.
Many people when looking in the mirror will see a red area located in the eye socket near the nose. Many people even mistake it for the lacrimal caruncle, because they are located next to each other. But actually, it’s the third eyelid, and science has given it a very decent name: plica semilunaris.
However, in reality, this layer of eyelids has almost no effect. Scientists say this is a remnant of evolution, and is evidence that humans once had a third eyelid like modern birds, lizards and some mammals. with the effect of cleaning the eyes, protecting the eyes from the sun, or becoming “swimming glasses” when they enter the water.
Over time, the third eyelid in humans has been disabled, leaving only a small vestige and becoming a very… useless organ. According to experts, the reason why humans left this little trace is because it has not done any harm to the evolutionary process.
Many people have this muscle. It stretches from the front neck to the chest. But if you ask if it has any effect… not much!
The biggest use of this muscle is for cosmetic purposes, allowing people to make some more expressive facial expressions, especially in the mouth area. But according to scientists, it is leftover from an organ called panniculus carnosus on animals, to help them move their mustaches to prevent insects from landing on it.