Information Related to "More Useless Body Parts?"
| Audio/Video |
Were human beings put together with definite purpose, or are we merely evolutionary happenstance?
The opening article in this two-part series ("Useless Body Parts? ") began an analysis of so-called "useless" body parts that have been labeled as vestigial or leftover from the process of evolutionary development.
The particular body parts addressed were taken from a brief Discovery News listing that appeared on the Fox News website ("9 Useless Body Parts ," Oct. 14, 2011).
We'll here consider at a few more items from the same list. May this concluding article bring you further enlightenment about how useful these body parts actually are.
Evolutionists maintain that early humans were hairier when they supposedly first branched off from other primates. It's argued that our ancestors lost the hair over time, not needing as much to keep warm as they learned other ways to keep warm and as their bodies developed better temperature regulation. Thus, our body hair today is taken to be a useless leftover. But let's look at some of the medical understanding about our body hair.
Body hair provides a variety of functions. The hair on our heads protects us from excessive sunlight and UV radiation as well as wind damage. Hair in our armpits, genitals and legs reduces friction. Hair also aids in the sweating process. As we sweat the hair pulls the sweat away from our bodies. That helps the sweat to evaporate more easily and keeps it from sticking to the skin and causing chafing or blistering. Body hair can also redirect sweat to protect more sensitive areas, like our eyebrows keeping sweat out of our eyes.
Body hair also aids in our sense of touch. Have you ever felt a bug crawling on the hair of your head? We don't often think about it, but a lot of what we feel on our skin is because of sensations transmitted through hairs (www.dailymail.co.uk ).
As for the body hair humans supposedly used to be covered with, scientists are guessing at this-making an assumption based on their belief that we descended from hairier primates. The fact is, the amount of hair we have perfectly suits our needs.
The ability of our hair to stand up comes from the erector pili (also spelled arrector pili ), a muscle attached to several hair follicles. Evolutionists say we needed this ability when we were hairier to look bigger and scarier. Now, they say, it isn't much good except for giving us goose bumps.
Yet the erector pili serve many functions. Pressure exerted by the erector pili help the sebaceous gland to secrete sebum (a natural skin lubricant), which helps maintain the integrity of the skin as a barrier (this is also why excessive skin washing is not good because it removes this sebum that helps to moisturize and protect our skin). Sebaceous secretions work with apocrine glands to help regulate body temperature. In hot conditions the secretions emulsify and foment formation of and prevent the loss of sweat drops from the skin. In colder conditions sebum repels rain from skin and hair. This muscle tightening also helps to retain body heat, while the loosening of these muscles can help to cool the skin.
While we can indeed get "goose bumps," the previous section elaborated on the many other functions our body hair provides. Additionally, God gave us a wide range of emotions that can be expressed in many different ways-being frightened can cause our hair to stand up, but being cold can make our hair stand up too. God gave our bodies the ability to give us feedback on our environment and to give physical expression to our mental or emotional state.
According to accepted evolutionary theory, humans used to have bigger jaws with 32 teeth. They say that what we call wisdom teeth were needed to chew a rougher diet. As humans evolved, the jaws became smaller to match the softer diet, and the wisdom teeth were no longer needed. In fact, they're even a problem in the smaller mouth. Some evolutionists speculate that the extra teeth were needed to replace other molars that fell out.
The major problem with viewing the molars this way is that evolutionists can't give any good reasons for an advantage that a smaller jaw would give humans. Some modern studies have shown that jaw and tooth development and alignment have a lot to do with how strong the jaw muscles are. Foods that require more chewing (not modern processed foods) have a big determination in how the molars develop and align (M.J. Barrett, "Dental Observations on Australian Aborigines: Tooth Eruption Sequence," Australian Dental Journal, Vol. 2, p. 227).
What's more, this evolutionary perspective would have more weight if every case of irrupting wisdom teeth required removal, but studies have shown that most of the cases involving removal of wisdom teeth were done preventatively. About 80 percent of wisdom tooth removal was done whether there was a dental problem or not (A.J. MacGregor, The Impacted Lower Wisdom Tooth, 1985, p. 3).
The bottom line is that wisdom teeth should be treated as any other tooth-useful in chewing the food we eat, or treated appropriately if they fail to function properly.
Sitting at the junction of the small intestine and large intestine, the appendix is a thin tube about four inches long and normally in the lower right abdomen. As might be expected, evolutionists claim that the appendix was useful for digestion during our early plant-eating years, but is now useless since we started eating more easily digestible foods. Modern medical science is now admitting this is not the case.
Doctors have discovered that the appendix is very important in the immune system of fetuses and young adults. Loren Martin, professor of physiology at Oklahoma State University, wrote in Scientific American :
"The appendix serves an important role in the fetus and in young adults. Endocrine cells appear in the appendix of the human fetus at around the 11th week of development. These endocrine cells of the fetal appendix have been shown to produce various biogenic amines and peptide hormones, compounds that assist with various biological control . . . mechanisms.
"During the early years of development . . . the appendix has been shown to function as a lymphoid organ, assisting with the maturation of B lymphocytes (one variety of white blood cell) and in the production of the class of antibodies known as immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies. Researchers have also shown that the appendix is involved in the production of molecules that help to direct the movement of lymphocytes to various other locations in the body" ("What Is the Function of the Human Appendix? Did It Once Have a Purpose That Has Since Been Lost?," Oct. 21, 1999).
Some medical doctors believe that the appendix acts as a storehouse for good bacteria, "rebooting" the digestive system after diarrheal illnesses (Digestive Disorders Heath Center, "Appendix ").
These two articles can't begin to detail all the arguments regarding parts of the human body that are considered vestigial, unnecessary or of "unknown use." The remarkable point is that medical science eventually finds that these parts do have purposes.
But one great failing of evolutionary thinking is to not recognize that God has also designed our bodies to adapt to survive. Can we survive without an appendix, or wisdom teeth or any other "minor" part of our body? Of course we can. Humanly, we can adapt to a loss of an appendage, sight or hearing and still have a productive life. Adaptability is not evidence of evolution-it is evidence of good design.
The more research and study that's done in the natural world around us and in understanding our bodies, the more obvious it becomes that evolution fails to account for the complexity and resiliency of life-life that God created. Medical science doesn't fully understand every aspect of these lesser parts of our bodies. However, as more studies refute the idea that these parts are unnecessary, it is evolution's arguments that are found to be useless.
For more insight into the shortcomings of the theory of evolution, we recommend that you read our Bible study aid, "Creation or Evolution: Does It Really Matter What You Believe? "
©1995-2022 United Church of God, an International AssociationRelated Information:
Table of Contents that includes "More Useless Body Parts?"
Other Articles by Dan Dowd
Origin of article "More Useless Body Parts?"
Keywords: evolution vestigial organs body hair appendix wisdom teeth
Evolution and biology: