We live in a world where some people accept evolutionary theory as viable, verifiable science whilst others insist that god created the world in six days. Yet others believe that god oversaw the evolution of humankind. Here is a look at some of our bits that don’t actually seem to do anything. I will leave you to make your mind up as to which view is the one that most fits the facts.

Ear Muscles

All of us have the ability to wiggle our ears, although some us aren’t very good at it. What purpose does the human body have in being able to wiggle the ears? Rabbits and dogs have these same ear muscles and are able to move just their ears without moving their whole head. Was this ability once useful to our ancestors in the evolutionary timeline or did god design them just get give our kids a giggle out of wiggly bits?

Subclaveus Muscle

Some people have a muscle extending from their rib to their collarbone. Not everybody has this muscle and some people only have it only on one side. This muscle would give us an advantage if we walked around on all fours like monkeys. Perhaps a throwback to our early ancestor? Perhaps the reason not everyone has these muscles is evolutions way of phasing them out?

The Appendix

The latest research suggests that when we ate a diet of mainly vegetables we used our appendix to help us to digest cellulose. Now that our diet contains more than simple vegetation the appendix serves no purpose and it simply stopped functioning. The appendix is open at one end but closed at the other and often gets blocked, swells and can burst causing death. The only way to prevent fatal illness is to have it removed.

Hair

Armpit hair, pubic hair, nasal hair, head hair, hair on your big toe, hair on your legs, hair, hair everywhere and no point to any of it. OK the hair on your head makes you look nice and some women like a man with facial hair. Nobody likes a woman with facial hair and many people of both sexes engage in regular hair removal. The only hair that might be useful is bushy eyebrow hair as it helps keep sweat out of your eyes. Maybe a monobrow will be all that is left of human hair in the future?

Coccyx

The coccyx is located at the base of the spine and appears to be what is left of a tail. You might not need it any more but if you bruise it, fall on it or damage it in any way you really will wish you hadn’t got it. During embryonic development we do actually form a tail but it eventually shrinks as the vertebrae reduces. Sometimes a baby will be born with a tail and have to undergo surgery to have it removed.

Extra Neck Rib or Thirteenth Rib

I knew someone with an extra neck rib. It serves no purpose but can cut off blood supply to the arms and hands and can cause nerve problems. Some people have an extra rib at the bottom that serves no purpose. Chimps and Gorrillas have thirteen as standard but only around eight percent of humans have the extra.

Junk DNA

We have a whole load of DNA that seems to serve no actual purpose. Well OK it may serve a purpose but at present it seems that it’s leftover DNA that we no longer need but still hangs around. The scientific jury is still out on this one.

A Note on Vestigial Organs

A vestigial organ is one that has been left behind. This does not neccesarily mean that these organs do not serve a function just that they do not serve their original purpose. Some of the things mentioned above are described as vestigial organs and some have argued that as they serve a purpose now they were most probably designed that way. Others have the view that their original purpose can be traced back to an earlier period in human development.

So which is it? God’s mind or evolutionary process or both? You decide.