November 30, 2010 • 32 mins
Evolutionary Hangover: Vestigial traits are common in animals across the globe, but why? In this episode, Julie and Robert take a look at the genetic leftovers that lost their usefulness during evolution. Tune in to learn more about evolution, atavism and vestigial traits.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff
Works dot com. Hey everybody, welcome to Stuff to Blow
your Mind. I'm Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And
tell me, Julie, do you have a lot of stuff
in your house? Would you say you were a hoarder? Mm?
(00:24):
I don't know that I would say that I'm a hoarder.
But I do surprise myself when I opened the closets
and I think, oh my god, what is what is
all that stuff? Yeah, because it's like, you know, I mean,
I don't feel like I'm that bad either. Um My
wife is a very good influence on me because she'll
throw things away at the drop of a hat, you know, yeah, definitely,
(00:45):
and uh and so that that cuts down in the clutter.
But still it's easy to be like, oh, I got
a new phone, I should keep this old phone because
who knows the new one could break. I might need
to fall back on this one, or you know, they'll
they'll be like, oh, I don't have time for this
hobby anymore, but maybe I will someday. So I should
just I shouldn't throw it away or sell it or
give it away. I should just put in the attic
(01:05):
for a little while. Yeah, yeah, that's how I feel
at my thigh master. I might use that one day
as a weapon or yes, definitely as a weapon. You
never know, it could be I think it could be
retrofitting look into a small um you know, caliber catapult,
you know. Yeah, that's what I was thinking, some sort
of sling device. Yeah, yeah, but again it's a slippery
slope before you know it. It's like the the house
(01:26):
that that that I'm that we're in now that I
my wife and I bought that. When we first got
it was just loaded with stuff like three Christmas trees
in the attic, that kind of thing, you know, because
the whole mindset can just go crazy. But what's interesting
is that when you look to uh nature, when you
look to evolution, you see a similar kind of hoarding
(01:48):
going on, or maybe not outright hoarding, but definitely hanging
on to things that that there's not really a use
for it anymore. A genetic hoarding, yeah, genetic and even
like just physiological hoarding. We're of course talking about vestigiality, um,
the occurrence of this vestigial organs, vestigial limbs, vestigial body parts, uh,
(02:12):
in all animals, but particularly in humans. Okay, And so
I'm thinking right off the bat, like I've heard about
whales with hip bones or leg bones. Yeah. Yeah, you
look at like a skeleton of a whale, and you know,
the head is very very pronounced. You know, all the
skeletal system is clearly really important, except for this like
(02:33):
a little pelvic area and these little like the remnants
of hind legs that just haven't been used in forever.
But it's if the it's as if the whale's body
on some like kind a very basic level, is like, well,
who knows, we might need to grow those legs out someday,
we might go back to land. We've done it before,
so we'll just we'll just keep this much around. Huh.
(02:55):
So it's sort of a law of probability thing going
on in nature. Yeah. That's the thing that keeps coming
back to me, is is we were looking at I mean,
on one hand, these are souvenirs of an evolutionary past.
You know, they're their pieces that no longer serve either
they don't serve a purpose anymore, or they don't serve
the purpose they were intended for. But there's and there's
(03:16):
and there's also a sense that evolution is kind of lazy,
that it's not going to you know, it's not gonna
fix anything that's not broken. Uh. But it also it
doesn't just throw something out in the same way that
like an animal doesn't say, just suddenly grow an entirely
new limb for some new purpose. You know it. You
know it's ay, a small badger animal at some point
(03:39):
in the you know, the primeval past needed to get
inside a log to eat a grub. It wouldn't like
grow like a fifth um grub grabbing instrument, you know
it would it would like develop like a tongue that
could reach in or nails that could could dig into
the trunk. You know. It works with what it has.
And and so it's like a similar the to ularity
(04:00):
is is like a similar thing in reverse, it seems
where um where it's like you don't if you don't
need hind legs anymore, you don't just completely get rid
of all the bones. You just sort of retract, you
downsize that portion, but you didn't not to the point
where you can't come back, okay. And so atavisms, which
are really closely related to the vestigial organs and traits
(04:25):
I think are pretty fascinating too, and they're a little
bit different in that, Uh, an atavism is is basically
a trait from like a distant, distant evolutionary ancestor. We're
not talking about you know, you're a great great grandfather.
We're talking like fifty years ago. Where um, that particular
piece of DNA gets expressed again. And the thing that
(04:46):
comes straight to mind the difference I guess between the
vestigial and atavistic our babies that are born with tails,
which is so crazy in the first place, Yes, actually happens.
It's not just a nationally fire headline. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly,
it's not that boy with the tail. Um. So if
you think about turkeys, which are flightless birds, and you
(05:09):
see their wings, uh, those are of a stigial right, yes,
because they're sort of imperfect versions of what they might
have had when they were taking flight. Right. The ostrich
is another example of that. Yeah. Yeah, And so if
you look at a baby born with a tail, that's
just sort of more of a evolutionary oddity. But yeah,
(05:29):
and and kind of but kind of like as if
suddenly like there was a turkey that had like of
all the turkeys, like, suddenly there's a turkey that has
like maybe larger wings. Kind of a deal because because
it's not like the baby's growing a tail for balance
but in it but in a prior evolutionary form, it
would have needed a tail for balance. Yeah, yeah, exactly,
like perhaps there are prehensile um it was a prehensile
(05:53):
tail that you could use to wrap around a tree
limb to support yourself. Even so, I mean, they're there
are different ways that a tail could have been used
in evolution. But every once in a while there the
ghosts just kind of like there's an on off switch
with a dimmer in our genes, and over the years,
you know, the evolutionary force decided, hey, we don't really
(06:14):
need this tale anymore. Let's dim that down to the
bare minimum. And uh, but then every now and then
that the dimmer switch gets brought up just a little bit, right,
And if you are unlucky enough to be born in
the ninth century with a tale, well it just wouldn't
have been good news for you. By the way, I
just wanted to point that out. Your mother would have
been branded a witch and you would both been disposed
(06:36):
of because obviously a tale uh looks as though it's
something from the dark arts or from the beast. There's
some sort of a changeling left in the crib exactly.
So that's that's one of the really interesting things about
the sigil and ottavistic traits. I just don't behave the
way that you think they're going to. Yeah, now, a
(06:57):
lot of this, uh, it really comes out of the
work of Charles Darwin. I mean not the actual traits
and the actual appearance of things like tales et cetera.
But but but our understanding of what these things are
comes from from his one book, that is Sin of Man.
And in this he identified about a dozen different anatomical
features that he thought were useless, uh and that we
(07:21):
don't use them the same way that other creatures do.
So um. For Darwin, this is this was also proved
that we we evolved from a primitive ancestors from primitive ancestors. Um.
And it's interesting. There's another guy that came after Darwin
who like like he really took on, took hold of
this idea and ran with And his name was Robert
(07:42):
of Widersham and uh he was an anatomist, this is,
and he put together a list that had like ninety
different things on it, which which I find just amazing. Um.
And and not to say that this was not a
very learned guy. This guy was pretty This was a
very bright guy. He was he was on the cutting
(08:03):
edge of science, reported to note UM and he and
he was just he was he was just very well,
he was just a little ambitious maybe and just a
little too eager to classify things. Uh. So you see
this mentioned a lot, especially by people who want to
(08:23):
UM want to defend say creationism against UM against evolution,
because like people who are are proponents of evolutionary theory
will often point out um the stigio, organs and limbs
as as proof that that we've evolved and there's not
some sort of divine forced dictating what a body looks like. Uh,
(08:44):
but they'll they'll but a creationists will sometimes throw this back,
like if you do a search for this guy's name
on on the internet, you'll find pretty much nothing but
but like random blog entries or message board posts attacking evolution.
So what was the sort of the meat of his
uh theory or the Well, well, that's the thing, the
(09:05):
important something that's not really mentioned any of these lists
is that the list itself is pretty particular. I mean,
there's some like glaring things where he was like, people
don't need three toes, the three in toes, like the
pinky toe, and then the other two I forget which
pigs those are, so the piggy that ate and the
one that didn't and then the one that went. We
we all the way home. Yeah, he was like, we
(09:27):
don't need those guys. But it was the other stuff,
like there's like there's the lumbar lit rib. A lot
of things on this list are kind of in medical
ease and I'm not really sure what they are, to
be honest, but but it but it was very particular,
and uh, and they were all things that he he
said that they don't actually have a function in the body,
(09:47):
and therefore they're just remnants of evolutionary past. Of course,
over time we looked at it at more detail and
we realized, oh, wait, well we actually do need this.
This does serve a purpose. And I imagine anybody that's
missing three toes on each foot would probably be able
to tell you that it's it's not ideal. No, no,
particularly in heels so let's let's go through some of these. Uh.
(10:09):
These are the more common one because because the list
is not ninety strong anymore, it's uh, they're really only
a handful of really good examples, and and even some
of those as we'll discuss. Um. You can go back
and forth on So, um, wisdom teeth do you do?
You have them? Yes? I well no I have one.
Three have been extracted, and of course, like anyone, they
(10:30):
are the ben of my existence. Um. And the interesting
thing about wisdom teeth, I think is the moniker and
it is so called wisdom teeth because they usually emerge
between the ages of seventeen and twenty five, which I
think back in the day was thought to be when
you had gained a good amount of knowledge and you'd
become wise. Of course, we know otherwise that the brain
(10:54):
itself isn't even fully developed tell aged. But but I digress. Um,
So wisdom teeth. There are a couple of different schools
of thought on this, um why they're vestigial now. One
is hygiene. Um, if you were living twenty thousand years ago,
you certainly weren't brushing your teeth twice a day, and
(11:14):
particularly not with floride. So, um, you're probably missing a
good amount of your teeth by the time that you
turned eighteen, which is probably I don't know about half
of your lifespan anyway. So if you're really helpful, if
you've got some wisdom teeth in kind of got an
upgrade your chompers. So that's one theory. Wow. So that
so basically by the time your wisdom teeth came in, uh,
(11:36):
some of your other teeth would be ready to go.
Like this is kind of like the second row of
sharp teeth exactly right, right you are? You are wise
and toothless at this point and getting on in years,
I guess, so looking like you know, if you're considering
just like ancient ancient man, right right, I mean, how
else are you going to be able to eat your
tiger meat? So you've got to You've got to get
(11:58):
you've got to have something there in the wings. Um.
The second school of thought is that as we evolve,
that our jaws have actually gotten a lot smaller. So
it's pretty simple. There was some teeth are getting crowded
out their extraneous Uh they're a pain in the butt. Uh,
they're unpleasant and they must be removed. Oh good, right, well,
(12:21):
I probably will have to remove mine eventually or have
them removed professionally rather um, because mine are generally rather quiet.
But then occasionally they'll just be really painful for like
a week. Yeah, they seem to do some sort of
flare up, some sort of like evolutionary like hey remember me. Well.
Another example is is body hair. H This is a
(12:44):
This one's rather obvious when you when you look at it. Um,
you know, a good head of hair can help maintain
cranial temperatures um and you know up. But obviously it's
not mandatory, as any bald person will be able to
tell you, or you know, just somebody who likes to
shave their head. But but body hair used to be
very important back in like, you know, way prehistoric days
(13:07):
when when we were just you know, just naked creatures
wandering a a frigid landscape. We depended on really furry
bodies to maintain temperature. But of course, over time we
wandered into areas that didn't that they weren't as cold,
We went into warmer climates, We developed the ability to
sweat and um and uh, and eventually we figured out
(13:29):
how to make clothes and you know to mansions and
building mansions. Yeah, so so you have body hair is
is is a great example of something that we we
really do not need a lot of people get rid
of it through one or regularly purge themselves of it. Uh.
And it's just you know, an evolutionary trait from from
the old days. M hm. And yet it was so
(13:52):
nice to have a stylish head of hair. Yeah, well
I'm thinking like back to sort of evolution, never throwing
something out just in case it needs it again. It's
it's kind of an example of of where where they're saying, hey,
you may have sweaters and make mansions today, but what
about next year? What about a hundred years from now
might get pretty cold? Yeah that nuclear winter, Yeah, there
(14:13):
might be another ice stage coming. It's like, don't you know.
It's like, I know all you humans want to be
like nice, pink and hairless, but you know, just calm down.
You might need it to get that's right, saying hey,
I'm in here for the long haul. Yeah, yeah, I'm
keeping it something to think about. Yeah, I don't know
about wisdom teeth though, like if if it is if
it's like actually the jaw has has shrunk like I
(14:34):
can't imagine that there being a case where I know,
maybe there it is where are eventually our jaw would
get bigger, or it's like nature's way of saying, hey,
you can brush your teeth every day and lift till
eighty now, but you know, call me in a hundred
years and see if that's the case. Yeah, it's it's possible.
I do think there's a logic behind it. And um,
I think another one of these traits, which I don't
(14:55):
know if it would come back or not, we will
have to think about that is called Darwin's point, and
it's also known as Darwin's tuber cole. And it's basically
a small thick nodule on the upper ear lobe that
we think was meant to help focus sounds so kind
of hone in, so it's essentially a little fleshy antenna.
I'm having a hard time picturing it since we're both
(15:16):
wearing headphones. Well now I now want to peel back
your headphone and see if you have it. Um, but
it's actually in some and some people looks kind of pronounced.
It looks like a little elfin, like a little elfin
ear bumps it's actually kind of cute. Um. But not
everybody has this. This isn't more like an atavistic trait. Um.
So in some populations it only shows up like ten
(15:38):
percent of the time and others fifty percent of the time.
Just sort of depends on where you live, what your
genetics are, and so on and so forth. Um. But again,
you know, maybe in the future we will need some
little antenna device to help us with sound. You never know. Yeah,
or it's kind of a case where it's like you're
not using it, but hey, it's not like it's inconveniencing us. Though.
(16:00):
Mature is kind of like like, you know, don't freak out.
We're just gonna keep this around and gains you need it.
It's not like you're tripping over it. No, if you
can dress it up for Halloween, make it even more pronounced.
This presentation is brought to you by Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow. Now,
(16:22):
another interesting the studio trait is the volmer and nasal
organ which, yeah, and this is a structure in the
nose that would ideally be used to detect pheromones emitted
by potential mates. Uh in humans though uh, this you know,
like cats and dogs are big on this and various
other animals um, which is why I actually have a
(16:45):
little spray can of cat pheromone to use just on
your desk. I just want to want cats attacking me
and coming to lay in all over me. UM no
to keep to to try and keep ours from up
from urinating where it's not supposed to um, which we're
not sure she does, but just in case. Cat pheromones
and spray form. Yeah, it's good to have around. Yeah.
(17:05):
I did get myself in the face with it one
day because with spraying it on event and I didn't
realize the event was on, and so it's like three
squirts of cat pheromone and then right back up in
my face. So I was followed all day. But yeah, yeah,
your eyeball was licked a lot. Yeah, they're scratchy tongue,
so weird on the eyeball. But but no so in
(17:26):
humans though, uh, it doesn't even appear to be connected
to the brain in any way. The vomber and nasal
organ it's like it's not even plugged in. It's it's
like the if you have a toaster of in your
kitchen and you haven't used it in in ages. It's
not even plugged in, but it's taken up counterspace. So
if it were plugged in, does not mean we would
all be sniffing each other. Maybe maybe I don't know.
(17:49):
I just sorry I had to ask. Um, let's let's
hope it doesn't turn on. It would be it would
certainly change the culture a bit. It would be awkward.
So apparently embryos, embryonic humans actually developed this organ um
and it's and and at one point in their development
it's it's it's very much like the vombarnasal organs and
(18:11):
other animals. But then it displaces and and it's pretty
much just sort of set aside for the remainder like
so so we always end up keeping it. It's all,
it's there, but it's just never plugged in. Do you
mind if I talk about nipples? Go for it? Okay?
So male nipples, I mean we you know, the question
always comes up every once in a while. Yeah, what
(18:31):
are they for? Why? I just wanted to say, I
hope you know this doesn't get too sensitive, but it's
it's completely normal. And um, the short answer of the
reason why men have nipples is because women do, and actually,
in other non humans. This is true as well. Was
(18:51):
this is a fallback in the idea that the female
is actually the the is actually the species, and the
male is just a mutation all the species necessary for approcreation.
I'd like to think so, but actually this has to
do with nature sort of again law probability, sort of
creating this in both males and females. Uh So, it's
(19:13):
it's called genetic correlation, and it really is a game
of probability. So even though sex is determined at the
time of fertilization, the gonads actually don't turn into testes
or into ovaries until the seventh week, and they don't
expressing the they don't start expressing the gender until them. Yeah,
so just think it's just just in case scenario. So
(19:35):
it's kind of like if you have a I don't
know if they do this anymore, but you do. It's
like if you if you if you purchase an automobile
that didn't have like a cigarette ashtray, like sometimes there
would be you could see the space where it would be. Yes,
So it's like the default car body um or or
just like interior body or shell or whatever had the
place for it, just in case it was there right exactly,
(19:57):
So just in case nature was like, you know what,
this is a gamble here, Well, we'll go ahead and
give nipples to everybody. All mammals, they get them. Um.
And you might have actually even heard of something called
witch's milk um, and this is actually produced in newborn infants. Yeah,
and people kind of get freaked out about that because
I think, whoa, my why why is my son lactating?
(20:19):
WHOA like a baby will lactate? Yeah, yeah, it's it's rare.
I didn't I knew about men lactating, of course, but
but babies, which is milk? Yeah, which is milk. But
the reason is because they're they're brush actually stimulated when
they're in their mother's womb because the mother's hormones are
crossing the placenta. So they basically kind of they come
(20:40):
out and they still have some of those hormones in
their system and they start lactating. So if this happens,
it's it's actually not abnormal. It's fine. Wow. Yeah. So
if you were if you happen to have been born
in ye olden times as a baby with the tail lactating,
I'm sorry, yeah, you were toast. Yeah, it just wasn't
(21:02):
looking good for you or your mom. So what there's
a debate here. So there are some people who say
that actually that the nipples aren't vestigial because it's more like,
you know, again that game of probability. Um, they would
be active if you are a female um or at
(21:22):
least actively lactating. Right. Um, So let's talk about a
little bit like the like what is vestigial, what's not vestigial?
Some things that are up in the air. Yeah, because
it's um, you know, it's it's it's like, like we said,
some of these things are are just in a process
of maybe being phased out for the time being, and
(21:43):
uh and someone in they're also cases's kind of like
that list of ninety odd things. Um, you know, we
came back around to some of those and said, well wait,
actually you do need this. Actually this does have a
purpose toes are helpful, right, So um so yeah, so
some of the the the items that we have considered
vestigio in the past, us some scientists are saying, well,
hold on, you know, I think that I think it
(22:05):
might actually have this this purpose during you know, this
particular situation. So uh so, yeah, we're actually gonna come
to two of the biggest uh, and the first of
which is the just the superstar of vestigial organs, the appendix.
That's right, it's uh. It's something that in humans is
(22:25):
sometimes reviled only because appendecontomies, right, and I know we
have performed something like three thousand of them a year. Um.
But in small plant eating vertebrates, the appendix is actually
pretty large and it helps to digest food. Um. If
you look at humans, it's just kind of a small,
lonely pouch and it's hanging out next to the large
intestine in the small intestine and then sometimes needs to
(22:48):
be removed. And it's yeah, exactly, that's the appendicitis uh so.
But the thing is is that it's it's a sort
of a third wheel to digestion. It doesn't do anything
thought is that like the plant eating vertebrates, at one
point it did actually break down food and aid in digestion.
(23:08):
So that's what we know about it. Um. Yeah, countless
people have this. Do you have yours? I do have mine,
like in your body or not? In a jar? R? No? No,
not not yet. Yeah, I have mine still inside me
inside me. Okay, but um, but yeah, that's it's like
like millions of people have this removed, and everybody goes
(23:29):
on just fine. Nobody's like, oh I wish I hadn't
had that that appendix right exactly. So a lot of
people have thought, Okay, well, it must be the sigila
has absolutely no purpose. And yet uh there's a growing
debate on this, and some people have have pointed out
that well, first of all, when that appendix is still
in your body, it is a producer of white blood
cells and anybody. So it's it's not just necessarily along
(23:53):
for the ride. It may not be be meeting the
same purpose that it was originally there for, but it's
it's still doing something. Um. Of course it could still
be considered vestigial given that. But then then there's also
this um where it really gets interesting is the idea
that the appendix UH can repopulate the gut with microbes
needed to stave off infection. And where where this is
(24:16):
key it comes down satellite to the topic of diarrhea
and dysentery. In the developed world. If you first of all,
you're probably less likely to get some strains of dysentery
and diarrhea. And then when you do you can go
to your doctor or you can go to your drug
store and get something to deal with it. Um in
(24:38):
you know, in the in the past, and indeed still
in many parts of the world. That's those options aren't
necessarily on the table or as readily available. And so
there's this, uh, this belief. To really understand the appendix role,
we need to be able to to look at at
developing countries and uh and look at because we we
have the facts on its removal and that have all
(25:00):
the world, we can say like millions of people haven't
done every day no problem. But but but they say,
we really need to look at people in the developing world, um,
you know, like portions of war torn Africa, et cetera,
and see if there are people there with appendix removed,
how they would fare given their conditions. Okay, so their
exposure to many more diseases and so on and so forth. Right,
(25:22):
so in this case, it would be this would be
an organ that that would be vestigial to some but
not to others. And uh, and again it's kind of
like nature saying, hey, you have you know, you have
a ride a down the road now and clean drinking
water in your house, but you know, a hundred years
from now, maybe not, and then you're gonna come run
into me. The appendix want me to pump you full
(25:43):
of um microbes to stave off you're a dysentery. And
if you're lucky and I haven't burst, I will help you.
That's what I imagined the appendix to say that. Yeah.
Uh another vestigial Uh. I guess you would say trait
or structure in this case would be the tailbone. Yeah, yeah,
(26:06):
the cockax cossacks, Okay, I always get that, and the
the frozen lake can Dante's Inferno? Confused? What is that called?
I don't know, Quick, Quick, I don't know. I can't
say it either. You're the one that knows Italian, don't Yeah,
but that doesn't know that. I that doesn't mean that
I know the first will check into it, all right.
(26:29):
It's on the tip of my tongue. I can picture
the word in my head. But but anyway, the we
we mentioned some of this earlier about the growth of
a tail that will happen occasionally, and so the tailbone
is is kind of the same deal. What does it
really do for us a side occasionally getting broken if
you fall in your butt hard enough. Um, maybe not
(26:51):
all that much. Ah, there's I mean the whole idea
is these are smaller and smaller vertebrae leading up to
the tail that isn't even there, right, So it's kind
of a evolutionary road to nowhere, you know. Yeah, but
there are some people who say that cossacks it's it's
helps to anchor minor muscles and helps support pelvic organs.
(27:11):
And they say that, you know, there's there's some evidence,
but it's kind of weak evidence, I have to say,
because you can have the cossacks removed or excuse me,
the tailbone, and uh, you can have a little or
no adverse effects. I mean, you can live without it, yeah,
if need be. It's kind of like to use an
example here at work, Um, in one of our meeting
(27:33):
rooms that's called the cool room. U, there is a
cardboard box in the corner that apparently contains cat. No,
not a cat. It contains I think it contains like
lit rocks or something like a product from another age,
and but it's been in there forever those this product
is not to mind. I I have no idea, but
evidently it's not going anywhere. This package is it has
(27:56):
no delivery information on it. Um, whatever purpose it was
originally intended for, it's obviously not meeting right, and it's
it survived renovations, right, renovation after innovation. But I set
on it every meeting that we have in the cool room,
at least for the big editorial meetings. So while it's
original purpose is long gone, it is found a new
(28:18):
purpose and it works very well in that regard. So
it's adapted. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's very Darwinian of it. Yeah,
you could. You could remove it now and say, hey,
this is pointless within horma gonna set right, so you
would miss it. Yeah. So I think a number of
these things will the appendix and the tailbone seem to
fall into those potentially fall into those categories where the
original you know, full blown purpose may not be appliable anymore,
(28:41):
but they still have important roles to play. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah,
we don't want them to go away. So Robert, tell
me about your toes and fingernails. Um, well, my fingernails
are fine. Uh. My toes, however, well kept, look good. Yeah, well,
thank you. Um my toes my toe nails at times
have proved a problem. Uh, to the point where I've wondered,
(29:02):
what's up with them? Like, why do I have toenails
if they're just going to um, you know, break when
they run into tables, uh, if and they're gonna end
up growing weird into like the side of my toe.
So I've had to have this procedure done. Uh forgive me.
I don't know the name of it, but basically, uh,
the doctor goes in, cuts off, cuts out a side
(29:23):
of the toenail, and then kills the nail bed. So
I still have to nails, you know, I'm not you know,
they just want to get that out there. But they've
been altered so that they don't grow so mind numbingly
painful anymore. And I've run into other people like a
friend of mine, Uh, this guy Michael. It's like I
was talking him one day. It's like he's like, oh,
I had that procedure done. Uh. And then my my
(29:44):
actual pediatrist, who he's had it done as well. So
so you feel like maybe the toe nails they could well,
I just think there's something well I don't know, if
we well, maybe we could lose them. I happy and
I haven't had to like actually like dig in the
dirt with my toes before. Um, I mean not, I
mean maybe recreationally, but you know, not for an actual
survival purpose. We don't want to hear about your weekend.
(30:06):
But I mean, seriously, it's like if if I'm having
to go to the doctor to have them change so
that they don't hurt, there's something. There's something up. But
maybe the design is a little outdated. Yeah, yeah, I'd
go with that. But we maybe we want them, but
not necessarily the way that they are. Yeah, Um, I
do say that I think that the fingernails are still
pretty useful. Yes, definitely. In fact, I know, um, one
(30:27):
guy that uses his pinky nail uh to actually screw
things in. You thought I was gonna get somewhere else
with that, didn't you, I don't know, long pinky nails. Yeah. Um,
but so you know they can still be used as tools. Yeah,
I mean, I mean, anybody who's I mean using to
pick up stuff all the time, scratching It may not
(30:48):
be the ideal thing to do, but I mean, how
would you like? Scratching would be a whole different ordeal
if you couldn't, like rub a mosquito bite? Can Yeah?
Can you imagine that? Would be torture. So I think
nails are not going away anytime, know, And then I
guess there's something too about keeping bacteria away or I
don't even know, or something that we're storing it for later.
(31:08):
I'll have this for later. Um, but that does make
me think, what what are we going to look like
in five years? You know, what what might become vestigial
for for us humans? Yeah? Yeah, again, we're not gonna
you know, develop new organs or limbs, you know, to
to tackle new problems. But you know, some new problems
(31:29):
may arise, some problems will continue to disappear. So yeah,
we'll we become completely hairless. I'm going with that. Will
all of us lose these annoying wisdom teeth? I hope
so I certainly do. Uh. Will we no longer have
to nails? Hmm, It's possible, We'll see. So if you
(31:50):
want to know more about this topic, UM, you should
come to the house stuff works dot com website and
check out how this digial organs work by Molly Edmunds. Um,
you should read how atavism works by Katie Lambert, and
we also have one on how natural selection works by
ed uh Grab Byanofsky's Right said it right and Grab,
(32:11):
as we call him grab so. For more information on
why you do or do not have a kale uh,
check out those articles and we'll catch you next time.
For more on this and thousands of other topics, is
it how stuff works dot com. To learn more about
the podcast, click on the podcast icon in the upper
(32:33):
right corner of our homepage. The How Stuff Works iPhone
app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes.
Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff
Works dot com. Hey everybody, welcome to Stuff to Blow
your Mind. I'm Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And
tell me, Julie, do you have a lot of stuff
in your house? Would you say you were a hoarder? Mm?
(00:24):
I don't know that I would say that I'm a hoarder.
But I do surprise myself when I opened the closets
and I think, oh my god, what is what is
all that stuff? Yeah, because it's like, you know, I mean,
I don't feel like I'm that bad either. Um My
wife is a very good influence on me because she'll
throw things away at the drop of a hat, you know, yeah, definitely,
(00:45):
and uh and so that that cuts down in the clutter.
But still it's easy to be like, oh, I got
a new phone, I should keep this old phone because
who knows the new one could break. I might need
to fall back on this one, or you know, they'll
they'll be like, oh, I don't have time for this
hobby anymore, but maybe I will someday. So I should
just I shouldn't throw it away or sell it or
give it away. I should just put in the attic
(01:05):
for a little while. Yeah, yeah, that's how I feel
at my thigh master. I might use that one day
as a weapon or yes, definitely as a weapon. You
never know, it could be I think it could be
retrofitting look into a small um you know, caliber catapult,
you know. Yeah, that's what I was thinking, some sort
of sling device. Yeah, yeah, but again it's a slippery
slope before you know it. It's like the the house
(01:26):
that that that I'm that we're in now that I
my wife and I bought that. When we first got
it was just loaded with stuff like three Christmas trees
in the attic, that kind of thing, you know, because
the whole mindset can just go crazy. But what's interesting
is that when you look to uh nature, when you
look to evolution, you see a similar kind of hoarding
(01:48):
going on, or maybe not outright hoarding, but definitely hanging
on to things that that there's not really a use
for it anymore. A genetic hoarding, yeah, genetic and even
like just physiological hoarding. We're of course talking about vestigiality, um,
the occurrence of this vestigial organs, vestigial limbs, vestigial body parts, uh,
(02:12):
in all animals, but particularly in humans. Okay, And so
I'm thinking right off the bat, like I've heard about
whales with hip bones or leg bones. Yeah. Yeah, you
look at like a skeleton of a whale, and you know,
the head is very very pronounced. You know, all the
skeletal system is clearly really important, except for this like
(02:33):
a little pelvic area and these little like the remnants
of hind legs that just haven't been used in forever.
But it's if the it's as if the whale's body
on some like kind a very basic level, is like, well,
who knows, we might need to grow those legs out someday,
we might go back to land. We've done it before,
so we'll just we'll just keep this much around. Huh.
(02:55):
So it's sort of a law of probability thing going
on in nature. Yeah. That's the thing that keeps coming
back to me, is is we were looking at I mean,
on one hand, these are souvenirs of an evolutionary past.
You know, they're their pieces that no longer serve either
they don't serve a purpose anymore, or they don't serve
the purpose they were intended for. But there's and there's
(03:16):
and there's also a sense that evolution is kind of lazy,
that it's not going to you know, it's not gonna
fix anything that's not broken. Uh. But it also it
doesn't just throw something out in the same way that
like an animal doesn't say, just suddenly grow an entirely
new limb for some new purpose. You know it. You
know it's ay, a small badger animal at some point
(03:39):
in the you know, the primeval past needed to get
inside a log to eat a grub. It wouldn't like
grow like a fifth um grub grabbing instrument, you know
it would it would like develop like a tongue that
could reach in or nails that could could dig into
the trunk. You know. It works with what it has.
And and so it's like a similar the to ularity
(04:00):
is is like a similar thing in reverse, it seems
where um where it's like you don't if you don't
need hind legs anymore, you don't just completely get rid
of all the bones. You just sort of retract, you
downsize that portion, but you didn't not to the point
where you can't come back, okay. And so atavisms, which
are really closely related to the vestigial organs and traits
(04:25):
I think are pretty fascinating too, and they're a little
bit different in that, Uh, an atavism is is basically
a trait from like a distant, distant evolutionary ancestor. We're
not talking about you know, you're a great great grandfather.
We're talking like fifty years ago. Where um, that particular
piece of DNA gets expressed again. And the thing that
(04:46):
comes straight to mind the difference I guess between the
vestigial and atavistic our babies that are born with tails,
which is so crazy in the first place, Yes, actually happens.
It's not just a nationally fire headline. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly,
it's not that boy with the tail. Um. So if
you think about turkeys, which are flightless birds, and you
(05:09):
see their wings, uh, those are of a stigial right, yes,
because they're sort of imperfect versions of what they might
have had when they were taking flight. Right. The ostrich
is another example of that. Yeah. Yeah, And so if
you look at a baby born with a tail, that's
just sort of more of a evolutionary oddity. But yeah,
(05:29):
and and kind of but kind of like as if
suddenly like there was a turkey that had like of
all the turkeys, like, suddenly there's a turkey that has
like maybe larger wings. Kind of a deal because because
it's not like the baby's growing a tail for balance
but in it but in a prior evolutionary form, it
would have needed a tail for balance. Yeah, yeah, exactly,
like perhaps there are prehensile um it was a prehensile
(05:53):
tail that you could use to wrap around a tree
limb to support yourself. Even so, I mean, they're there
are different ways that a tail could have been used
in evolution. But every once in a while there the
ghosts just kind of like there's an on off switch
with a dimmer in our genes, and over the years,
you know, the evolutionary force decided, hey, we don't really
(06:14):
need this tale anymore. Let's dim that down to the
bare minimum. And uh, but then every now and then
that the dimmer switch gets brought up just a little bit, right,
And if you are unlucky enough to be born in
the ninth century with a tale, well it just wouldn't
have been good news for you. By the way, I
just wanted to point that out. Your mother would have
been branded a witch and you would both been disposed
(06:36):
of because obviously a tale uh looks as though it's
something from the dark arts or from the beast. There's
some sort of a changeling left in the crib exactly.
So that's that's one of the really interesting things about
the sigil and ottavistic traits. I just don't behave the
way that you think they're going to. Yeah, now, a
(06:57):
lot of this, uh, it really comes out of the
work of Charles Darwin. I mean not the actual traits
and the actual appearance of things like tales et cetera.
But but but our understanding of what these things are
comes from from his one book, that is Sin of Man.
And in this he identified about a dozen different anatomical
features that he thought were useless, uh and that we
(07:21):
don't use them the same way that other creatures do.
So um. For Darwin, this is this was also proved
that we we evolved from a primitive ancestors from primitive ancestors. Um.
And it's interesting. There's another guy that came after Darwin
who like like he really took on, took hold of
this idea and ran with And his name was Robert
(07:42):
of Widersham and uh he was an anatomist, this is,
and he put together a list that had like ninety
different things on it, which which I find just amazing. Um.
And and not to say that this was not a
very learned guy. This guy was pretty This was a
very bright guy. He was he was on the cutting
(08:03):
edge of science, reported to note UM and he and
he was just he was he was just very well,
he was just a little ambitious maybe and just a
little too eager to classify things. Uh. So you see
this mentioned a lot, especially by people who want to
(08:23):
UM want to defend say creationism against UM against evolution,
because like people who are are proponents of evolutionary theory
will often point out um the stigio, organs and limbs
as as proof that that we've evolved and there's not
some sort of divine forced dictating what a body looks like. Uh,
(08:44):
but they'll they'll but a creationists will sometimes throw this back,
like if you do a search for this guy's name
on on the internet, you'll find pretty much nothing but
but like random blog entries or message board posts attacking evolution.
So what was the sort of the meat of his
uh theory or the Well, well, that's the thing, the
(09:05):
important something that's not really mentioned any of these lists
is that the list itself is pretty particular. I mean,
there's some like glaring things where he was like, people
don't need three toes, the three in toes, like the
pinky toe, and then the other two I forget which
pigs those are, so the piggy that ate and the
one that didn't and then the one that went. We
we all the way home. Yeah, he was like, we
(09:27):
don't need those guys. But it was the other stuff,
like there's like there's the lumbar lit rib. A lot
of things on this list are kind of in medical
ease and I'm not really sure what they are, to
be honest, but but it but it was very particular,
and uh, and they were all things that he he
said that they don't actually have a function in the body,
(09:47):
and therefore they're just remnants of evolutionary past. Of course,
over time we looked at it at more detail and
we realized, oh, wait, well we actually do need this.
This does serve a purpose. And I imagine anybody that's
missing three toes on each foot would probably be able
to tell you that it's it's not ideal. No, no,
particularly in heels so let's let's go through some of these. Uh.
(10:09):
These are the more common one because because the list
is not ninety strong anymore, it's uh, they're really only
a handful of really good examples, and and even some
of those as we'll discuss. Um. You can go back
and forth on So, um, wisdom teeth do you do?
You have them? Yes? I well no I have one.
Three have been extracted, and of course, like anyone, they
(10:30):
are the ben of my existence. Um. And the interesting
thing about wisdom teeth, I think is the moniker and
it is so called wisdom teeth because they usually emerge
between the ages of seventeen and twenty five, which I
think back in the day was thought to be when
you had gained a good amount of knowledge and you'd
become wise. Of course, we know otherwise that the brain
(10:54):
itself isn't even fully developed tell aged. But but I digress. Um,
So wisdom teeth. There are a couple of different schools
of thought on this, um why they're vestigial now. One
is hygiene. Um, if you were living twenty thousand years ago,
you certainly weren't brushing your teeth twice a day, and
(11:14):
particularly not with floride. So, um, you're probably missing a
good amount of your teeth by the time that you
turned eighteen, which is probably I don't know about half
of your lifespan anyway. So if you're really helpful, if
you've got some wisdom teeth in kind of got an
upgrade your chompers. So that's one theory. Wow. So that
so basically by the time your wisdom teeth came in, uh,
(11:36):
some of your other teeth would be ready to go.
Like this is kind of like the second row of
sharp teeth exactly right, right you are? You are wise
and toothless at this point and getting on in years,
I guess, so looking like you know, if you're considering
just like ancient ancient man, right right, I mean, how
else are you going to be able to eat your
tiger meat? So you've got to You've got to get
(11:58):
you've got to have something there in the wings. Um.
The second school of thought is that as we evolve,
that our jaws have actually gotten a lot smaller. So
it's pretty simple. There was some teeth are getting crowded
out their extraneous Uh they're a pain in the butt. Uh,
they're unpleasant and they must be removed. Oh good, right, well,
(12:21):
I probably will have to remove mine eventually or have
them removed professionally rather um, because mine are generally rather quiet.
But then occasionally they'll just be really painful for like
a week. Yeah, they seem to do some sort of
flare up, some sort of like evolutionary like hey remember me. Well.
Another example is is body hair. H This is a
(12:44):
This one's rather obvious when you when you look at it. Um,
you know, a good head of hair can help maintain
cranial temperatures um and you know up. But obviously it's
not mandatory, as any bald person will be able to
tell you, or you know, just somebody who likes to
shave their head. But but body hair used to be
very important back in like, you know, way prehistoric days
(13:07):
when when we were just you know, just naked creatures
wandering a a frigid landscape. We depended on really furry
bodies to maintain temperature. But of course, over time we
wandered into areas that didn't that they weren't as cold,
We went into warmer climates, We developed the ability to
sweat and um and uh, and eventually we figured out
(13:29):
how to make clothes and you know to mansions and
building mansions. Yeah, so so you have body hair is
is is a great example of something that we we
really do not need a lot of people get rid
of it through one or regularly purge themselves of it. Uh.
And it's just you know, an evolutionary trait from from
the old days. M hm. And yet it was so
(13:52):
nice to have a stylish head of hair. Yeah, well
I'm thinking like back to sort of evolution, never throwing
something out just in case it needs it again. It's
it's kind of an example of of where where they're saying, hey,
you may have sweaters and make mansions today, but what
about next year? What about a hundred years from now
might get pretty cold? Yeah that nuclear winter, Yeah, there
(14:13):
might be another ice stage coming. It's like, don't you know.
It's like, I know all you humans want to be
like nice, pink and hairless, but you know, just calm down.
You might need it to get that's right, saying hey,
I'm in here for the long haul. Yeah, yeah, I'm
keeping it something to think about. Yeah, I don't know
about wisdom teeth though, like if if it is if
it's like actually the jaw has has shrunk like I
(14:34):
can't imagine that there being a case where I know,
maybe there it is where are eventually our jaw would
get bigger, or it's like nature's way of saying, hey,
you can brush your teeth every day and lift till
eighty now, but you know, call me in a hundred
years and see if that's the case. Yeah, it's it's possible.
I do think there's a logic behind it. And um,
I think another one of these traits, which I don't
(14:55):
know if it would come back or not, we will
have to think about that is called Darwin's point, and
it's also known as Darwin's tuber cole. And it's basically
a small thick nodule on the upper ear lobe that
we think was meant to help focus sounds so kind
of hone in, so it's essentially a little fleshy antenna.
I'm having a hard time picturing it since we're both
(15:16):
wearing headphones. Well now I now want to peel back
your headphone and see if you have it. Um, but
it's actually in some and some people looks kind of pronounced.
It looks like a little elfin, like a little elfin
ear bumps it's actually kind of cute. Um. But not
everybody has this. This isn't more like an atavistic trait. Um.
So in some populations it only shows up like ten
(15:38):
percent of the time and others fifty percent of the time.
Just sort of depends on where you live, what your
genetics are, and so on and so forth. Um. But again,
you know, maybe in the future we will need some
little antenna device to help us with sound. You never know. Yeah,
or it's kind of a case where it's like you're
not using it, but hey, it's not like it's inconveniencing us. Though.
(16:00):
Mature is kind of like like, you know, don't freak out.
We're just gonna keep this around and gains you need it.
It's not like you're tripping over it. No, if you
can dress it up for Halloween, make it even more pronounced.
This presentation is brought to you by Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow. Now,
(16:22):
another interesting the studio trait is the volmer and nasal
organ which, yeah, and this is a structure in the
nose that would ideally be used to detect pheromones emitted
by potential mates. Uh in humans though uh, this you know,
like cats and dogs are big on this and various
other animals um, which is why I actually have a
(16:45):
little spray can of cat pheromone to use just on
your desk. I just want to want cats attacking me
and coming to lay in all over me. UM no
to keep to to try and keep ours from up
from urinating where it's not supposed to um, which we're
not sure she does, but just in case. Cat pheromones
and spray form. Yeah, it's good to have around. Yeah.
(17:05):
I did get myself in the face with it one
day because with spraying it on event and I didn't
realize the event was on, and so it's like three
squirts of cat pheromone and then right back up in
my face. So I was followed all day. But yeah, yeah,
your eyeball was licked a lot. Yeah, they're scratchy tongue,
so weird on the eyeball. But but no so in
(17:26):
humans though, uh, it doesn't even appear to be connected
to the brain in any way. The vomber and nasal
organ it's like it's not even plugged in. It's it's
like the if you have a toaster of in your
kitchen and you haven't used it in in ages. It's
not even plugged in, but it's taken up counterspace. So
if it were plugged in, does not mean we would
all be sniffing each other. Maybe maybe I don't know.
(17:49):
I just sorry I had to ask. Um, let's let's
hope it doesn't turn on. It would be it would
certainly change the culture a bit. It would be awkward.
So apparently embryos, embryonic humans actually developed this organ um
and it's and and at one point in their development
it's it's it's very much like the vombarnasal organs and
(18:11):
other animals. But then it displaces and and it's pretty
much just sort of set aside for the remainder like
so so we always end up keeping it. It's all,
it's there, but it's just never plugged in. Do you
mind if I talk about nipples? Go for it? Okay?
So male nipples, I mean we you know, the question
always comes up every once in a while. Yeah, what
(18:31):
are they for? Why? I just wanted to say, I
hope you know this doesn't get too sensitive, but it's
it's completely normal. And um, the short answer of the
reason why men have nipples is because women do, and actually,
in other non humans. This is true as well. Was
(18:51):
this is a fallback in the idea that the female
is actually the the is actually the species, and the
male is just a mutation all the species necessary for approcreation.
I'd like to think so, but actually this has to
do with nature sort of again law probability, sort of
creating this in both males and females. Uh So, it's
(19:13):
it's called genetic correlation, and it really is a game
of probability. So even though sex is determined at the
time of fertilization, the gonads actually don't turn into testes
or into ovaries until the seventh week, and they don't
expressing the they don't start expressing the gender until them. Yeah,
so just think it's just just in case scenario. So
(19:35):
it's kind of like if you have a I don't
know if they do this anymore, but you do. It's
like if you if you if you purchase an automobile
that didn't have like a cigarette ashtray, like sometimes there
would be you could see the space where it would be. Yes,
So it's like the default car body um or or
just like interior body or shell or whatever had the
place for it, just in case it was there right exactly,
(19:57):
So just in case nature was like, you know what,
this is a gamble here, Well, we'll go ahead and
give nipples to everybody. All mammals, they get them. Um.
And you might have actually even heard of something called
witch's milk um, and this is actually produced in newborn infants. Yeah,
and people kind of get freaked out about that because
I think, whoa, my why why is my son lactating?
(20:19):
WHOA like a baby will lactate? Yeah, yeah, it's it's rare.
I didn't I knew about men lactating, of course, but
but babies, which is milk? Yeah, which is milk. But
the reason is because they're they're brush actually stimulated when
they're in their mother's womb because the mother's hormones are
crossing the placenta. So they basically kind of they come
(20:40):
out and they still have some of those hormones in
their system and they start lactating. So if this happens,
it's it's actually not abnormal. It's fine. Wow. Yeah. So
if you were if you happen to have been born
in ye olden times as a baby with the tail lactating,
I'm sorry, yeah, you were toast. Yeah, it just wasn't
(21:02):
looking good for you or your mom. So what there's
a debate here. So there are some people who say
that actually that the nipples aren't vestigial because it's more like,
you know, again that game of probability. Um, they would
be active if you are a female um or at
(21:22):
least actively lactating. Right. Um, So let's talk about a
little bit like the like what is vestigial, what's not vestigial?
Some things that are up in the air. Yeah, because
it's um, you know, it's it's it's like, like we said,
some of these things are are just in a process
of maybe being phased out for the time being, and
(21:43):
uh and someone in they're also cases's kind of like
that list of ninety odd things. Um, you know, we
came back around to some of those and said, well wait,
actually you do need this. Actually this does have a
purpose toes are helpful, right, So um so yeah, so
some of the the the items that we have considered
vestigio in the past, us some scientists are saying, well,
hold on, you know, I think that I think it
(22:05):
might actually have this this purpose during you know, this
particular situation. So uh so, yeah, we're actually gonna come
to two of the biggest uh, and the first of
which is the just the superstar of vestigial organs, the appendix.
That's right, it's uh. It's something that in humans is
(22:25):
sometimes reviled only because appendecontomies, right, and I know we
have performed something like three thousand of them a year. Um.
But in small plant eating vertebrates, the appendix is actually
pretty large and it helps to digest food. Um. If
you look at humans, it's just kind of a small,
lonely pouch and it's hanging out next to the large
intestine in the small intestine and then sometimes needs to
(22:48):
be removed. And it's yeah, exactly, that's the appendicitis uh so.
But the thing is is that it's it's a sort
of a third wheel to digestion. It doesn't do anything
thought is that like the plant eating vertebrates, at one
point it did actually break down food and aid in digestion.
(23:08):
So that's what we know about it. Um. Yeah, countless
people have this. Do you have yours? I do have mine,
like in your body or not? In a jar? R? No? No,
not not yet. Yeah, I have mine still inside me
inside me. Okay, but um, but yeah, that's it's like
like millions of people have this removed, and everybody goes
(23:29):
on just fine. Nobody's like, oh I wish I hadn't
had that that appendix right exactly. So a lot of
people have thought, Okay, well, it must be the sigila
has absolutely no purpose. And yet uh there's a growing
debate on this, and some people have have pointed out
that well, first of all, when that appendix is still
in your body, it is a producer of white blood
cells and anybody. So it's it's not just necessarily along
(23:53):
for the ride. It may not be be meeting the
same purpose that it was originally there for, but it's
it's still doing something. Um. Of course it could still
be considered vestigial given that. But then then there's also
this um where it really gets interesting is the idea
that the appendix UH can repopulate the gut with microbes
needed to stave off infection. And where where this is
(24:16):
key it comes down satellite to the topic of diarrhea
and dysentery. In the developed world. If you first of all,
you're probably less likely to get some strains of dysentery
and diarrhea. And then when you do you can go
to your doctor or you can go to your drug
store and get something to deal with it. Um in
(24:38):
you know, in the in the past, and indeed still
in many parts of the world. That's those options aren't
necessarily on the table or as readily available. And so
there's this, uh, this belief. To really understand the appendix role,
we need to be able to to look at at
developing countries and uh and look at because we we
have the facts on its removal and that have all
(25:00):
the world, we can say like millions of people haven't
done every day no problem. But but but they say,
we really need to look at people in the developing world, um,
you know, like portions of war torn Africa, et cetera,
and see if there are people there with appendix removed,
how they would fare given their conditions. Okay, so their
exposure to many more diseases and so on and so forth. Right,
(25:22):
so in this case, it would be this would be
an organ that that would be vestigial to some but
not to others. And uh, and again it's kind of
like nature saying, hey, you have you know, you have
a ride a down the road now and clean drinking
water in your house, but you know, a hundred years
from now, maybe not, and then you're gonna come run
into me. The appendix want me to pump you full
(25:43):
of um microbes to stave off you're a dysentery. And
if you're lucky and I haven't burst, I will help you.
That's what I imagined the appendix to say that. Yeah.
Uh another vestigial Uh. I guess you would say trait
or structure in this case would be the tailbone. Yeah, yeah,
(26:06):
the cockax cossacks, Okay, I always get that, and the
the frozen lake can Dante's Inferno? Confused? What is that called?
I don't know, Quick, Quick, I don't know. I can't
say it either. You're the one that knows Italian, don't Yeah,
but that doesn't know that. I that doesn't mean that
I know the first will check into it, all right.
(26:29):
It's on the tip of my tongue. I can picture
the word in my head. But but anyway, the we
we mentioned some of this earlier about the growth of
a tail that will happen occasionally, and so the tailbone
is is kind of the same deal. What does it
really do for us a side occasionally getting broken if
you fall in your butt hard enough. Um, maybe not
(26:51):
all that much. Ah, there's I mean the whole idea
is these are smaller and smaller vertebrae leading up to
the tail that isn't even there, right, So it's kind
of a evolutionary road to nowhere, you know. Yeah, but
there are some people who say that cossacks it's it's
helps to anchor minor muscles and helps support pelvic organs.
(27:11):
And they say that, you know, there's there's some evidence,
but it's kind of weak evidence, I have to say,
because you can have the cossacks removed or excuse me,
the tailbone, and uh, you can have a little or
no adverse effects. I mean, you can live without it, yeah,
if need be. It's kind of like to use an
example here at work, Um, in one of our meeting
(27:33):
rooms that's called the cool room. U, there is a
cardboard box in the corner that apparently contains cat. No,
not a cat. It contains I think it contains like
lit rocks or something like a product from another age,
and but it's been in there forever those this product
is not to mind. I I have no idea, but
evidently it's not going anywhere. This package is it has
(27:56):
no delivery information on it. Um, whatever purpose it was
originally intended for, it's obviously not meeting right, and it's
it survived renovations, right, renovation after innovation. But I set
on it every meeting that we have in the cool room,
at least for the big editorial meetings. So while it's
original purpose is long gone, it is found a new
(28:18):
purpose and it works very well in that regard. So
it's adapted. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's very Darwinian of it. Yeah,
you could. You could remove it now and say, hey,
this is pointless within horma gonna set right, so you
would miss it. Yeah. So I think a number of
these things will the appendix and the tailbone seem to
fall into those potentially fall into those categories where the
original you know, full blown purpose may not be appliable anymore,
(28:41):
but they still have important roles to play. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah,
we don't want them to go away. So Robert, tell
me about your toes and fingernails. Um, well, my fingernails
are fine. Uh. My toes, however, well kept, look good. Yeah, well,
thank you. Um my toes my toe nails at times
have proved a problem. Uh, to the point where I've wondered,
(29:02):
what's up with them? Like, why do I have toenails
if they're just going to um, you know, break when
they run into tables, uh, if and they're gonna end
up growing weird into like the side of my toe.
So I've had to have this procedure done. Uh forgive me.
I don't know the name of it, but basically, uh,
the doctor goes in, cuts off, cuts out a side
(29:23):
of the toenail, and then kills the nail bed. So
I still have to nails, you know, I'm not you know,
they just want to get that out there. But they've
been altered so that they don't grow so mind numbingly
painful anymore. And I've run into other people like a
friend of mine, Uh, this guy Michael. It's like I
was talking him one day. It's like he's like, oh,
I had that procedure done. Uh. And then my my
(29:44):
actual pediatrist, who he's had it done as well. So
so you feel like maybe the toe nails they could well,
I just think there's something well I don't know, if
we well, maybe we could lose them. I happy and
I haven't had to like actually like dig in the
dirt with my toes before. Um, I mean not, I
mean maybe recreationally, but you know, not for an actual
survival purpose. We don't want to hear about your weekend.
(30:06):
But I mean, seriously, it's like if if I'm having
to go to the doctor to have them change so
that they don't hurt, there's something. There's something up. But
maybe the design is a little outdated. Yeah, yeah, I'd
go with that. But we maybe we want them, but
not necessarily the way that they are. Yeah, Um, I
do say that I think that the fingernails are still
pretty useful. Yes, definitely. In fact, I know, um, one
(30:27):
guy that uses his pinky nail uh to actually screw
things in. You thought I was gonna get somewhere else
with that, didn't you, I don't know, long pinky nails. Yeah. Um,
but so you know they can still be used as tools. Yeah,
I mean, I mean, anybody who's I mean using to
pick up stuff all the time, scratching It may not
(30:48):
be the ideal thing to do, but I mean, how
would you like? Scratching would be a whole different ordeal
if you couldn't, like rub a mosquito bite? Can Yeah?
Can you imagine that? Would be torture. So I think
nails are not going away anytime, know, And then I
guess there's something too about keeping bacteria away or I
don't even know, or something that we're storing it for later.
(31:08):
I'll have this for later. Um, but that does make
me think, what what are we going to look like
in five years? You know, what what might become vestigial
for for us humans? Yeah? Yeah, again, we're not gonna
you know, develop new organs or limbs, you know, to
to tackle new problems. But you know, some new problems
(31:29):
may arise, some problems will continue to disappear. So yeah,
we'll we become completely hairless. I'm going with that. Will
all of us lose these annoying wisdom teeth? I hope
so I certainly do. Uh. Will we no longer have
to nails? Hmm, It's possible, We'll see. So if you
(31:50):
want to know more about this topic, UM, you should
come to the house stuff works dot com website and
check out how this digial organs work by Molly Edmunds. Um,
you should read how atavism works by Katie Lambert, and
we also have one on how natural selection works by
ed uh Grab Byanofsky's Right said it right and Grab,
(32:11):
as we call him grab so. For more information on
why you do or do not have a kale uh,
check out those articles and we'll catch you next time.
For more on this and thousands of other topics, is
it how stuff works dot com. To learn more about
the podcast, click on the podcast icon in the upper
(32:33):
right corner of our homepage. The How Stuff Works iPhone
app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes.
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