Comments on: Evolutionary Scorecard

By: Charles

Charles — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:05:49 +0000

I nominate the disaster that is the gluteal cleft for pilonidal cysts, the pancreas for its fickleness and propensity for creative adjustment of insulin levels, the coccyx, and plasma transport of cholesterol – why export it from the liver? It doesn’t do so well in the arteries and every cell can make its own anyway. Also I seem to be missing an ink bladder; how did my ancestors ever escape from predators?
Of honorable mention: most organs. Sure they do their job, but there is always some species with one that does it better. Take the lungs for instance, why is it that we have such trouble with scaling tall mountains yet many birds have no problems with those altitudes? Their environmental stressors resulted in a far better organ than ours.
see -> http://www.erj.ersjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/29/1/11

By: Catharine

Catharine — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:21:55 +0000

Max: I think that belly buttons are very useful. Many years ago I had an omniscient professor of Philosophy who one day said to me, “I’m only human.” My response was “OK, show me your belly button.” He refused. To this day, I am convinced that he is actually a god. Now I am a nurse and I have seen variations in human anatomy (including missing parts) that would cross your eyes and make your head spin. But I have yet to see a missing belly button.

By: Max

Max — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:30:20 +0000

Great post …how about adding Belly buttons!! Neither use nor ornament from the day we are born to the day we die…can’t they just heal up and save health care services money treating fungal infections, foreign bodies ( http://maxenurse.wordpress.com/fbs/ ) and of course umbilical hernias.

Mind you they do give you somewhere to put a pen when filling in the crossword at bed time!!!

By: A Cracking Grand Rounds! // Emergiblog

A Cracking Grand Rounds! // Emergiblog — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:38:34 +0000

[...] with The Examining Room of Dr. Charles!!! He is back and better than ever, taking look at the Evolutionary Scorecard! Where else can you find appendices, spinal cords and chest hair in one [...]

By: Kim

Kim — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:42:40 +0000

Just for the record, all 7% of those people with appys were in my ER last week.
And I can vouch for chest being a reproductive advantage. In a major way. Back hair? Not so much.

By: ginger

ginger — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:07:56 +0000

Could we please talk about the human knee, and the myriad ways it goes wrong versus the one way it can go right? Between that and the capacity of differentiation to go terribly wrong, I have a variety of bones (as it were) to pick with the Great Designer.

By: David Harmon

David Harmon — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:43:09 +0000

Horses certainly can have spinal problems, though that’s arguably from overwork (“swaybacked”).

Both the depression and diabetes issues likely represent responses to our modern environment, which we’ve pushed way out of the range that we evolved for. A lot of other health issues we have, represent tradeoffs — as you note, our spine represents a drastic adaptation for vertical stance and running, as does our narrow pelvis, which as Micha points out is a problem for childbirth.

By: Karsten

Karsten — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:53:36 +0000

About the balance of NTs and moods, I would like to submit for consideration that perhaps mood disorders were less prevalent when man roamed the African savannas (still debated as are of origin) and have only increased in frequency when we as a species have reduced the selective pressure medical conditions with an inherited component place on groups of individuals who inherit that trait. Medications and therapeutic interventions allow people with NT imbalances and possible structural defects of the brain to lead lives that are rewarding, independent, sustainable and often reproductive. It stands to reason that from an evolutionary perspective, however, 5,000 years ago if a group of individuals inherited a predilection for mental illnesses such as depression or severe and persistent mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, they would be at a significant disadvantage and experience decreased fitness. Of course I need to acknowledge this only affects the components of mood disorders are heritable and have high penetrance.

By: Micha

Micha — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:17:36 +0000

Along the bipedal lines . . . the pelvis is good for running, bad for pushing out babies with big brains in caves. Along the cave lines. . . hypercoagulability in pregnancy was good when we were bleeding in caves, bad that we are now fat, sedentary, and post-op from c-sections and prone to deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. On the plus side of evolution, those babies with big brains invented antibiotics, blood transfusions, and c-sections.

By: James

James — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:14:13 +0000

I liked your post. I’d also like to submit the sinuses as a structure poorly designed by evolution – always filling up and becoming infected. Who’s idea was that?