Hey there, viewers!
The human body is fascinating.
It holds countless organs that do amazing things.
Your heart beats tirelessly, the brain doesn’t ask for a break, and lungs keep you breathing.
Every day your body performs complex processes that keep you alive.
You would be surprised by the significance of certain body parts.
For example, without your little pinky finger, the strength of your hand would be reduced
by 50%.
But are certain organs useless?
Do your body hair, auricular muscles and extra eye membrane really have a point?
Let’s discuss 7 Human Body Parts That Are Useless To You.
Body hair and erector pili
Even if science didn’t tell us, most of us have felt at one point that our body hair
isn't of any use.
The hair on your head shields you from heat by providing insulation.
Eyebrows prevent sweat from entering your eyes.
Beard, well, it looks attractive.
But what about the hair on your legs, arms, stomach and back?
Body hair has functions when it comes to animals.
They need it to shield them from harsh weather, to appear larger, and scare away larger predators.
Thankfully, humans do not need to do so.
We can be happy with a hairless body.
And accompanying your body hair is the muscle fibre- erector pili.
Fear, confrontation, and even cold can activate it, forcing your hair to stand up.
These are the typical goosebumps you experience when watching a horror movie, or when the
thermostat is far too low.
Yep, humans can do away with erector pili and goosebumps.
Thankfully, we have much better defences against sickness.
Extra eye membrane
Unless you plan to turn into a mermaid, frog or fish, you don’t need the extra eye membrane.
This extra eye membrane, also known as plica semilunaris is a thick, pink membrane right
in the corner of your eyes.
Experts think it may have originated to keep your eyes clean and moist.
It may have even protected you from predators in the wild.
But that was then!
Today, we can easily do away with this wasteful membrane.
We no longer need it for clear vision or survival.
However, since it is there, it does serve the purpose of sweeping debris away from the
eye.
Are you finding the list useful so far?
Well this next point will surely surprise you.
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Auricular muscles and Darwin’s point
Have you ever seen a human flicker, move, or adjust their ear like a cow?
Dogs, cats and the majority of other animals can move the visible part of their ear.
This is due to auricular muscles.
Animals use it to detect prey and stay alert.
Humans have lost the ability to use their auricular muscles.
Some of the talented ones can still wiggle their ears, but that’s pretty much the best
we can do.
Around 10% of humans carry an extra skin fold at the top of their ears.
This extra skin fold is known as “Darwin’s point”, or “Darwin’s tubercle”.
There are no clear sources on the origin of this skin fold but much like auricular muscles,
Darwin point is useless.
Experts believe it may have been a joint that at one point helped humans flop their ears
up and down.
Appendix
Ask people about the most commonly known organs in the human body.
I bet you 9 out of 10 people will list the appendix as one.
The appendix is a tube-shaped pouch present at the junction of your large and small intestine.
It has no role in the digestive process and usually sits attached to your large intestine
in the lower right of your body.
In the case of appendicitis, some people need to get it removed.
One thing these people all have in common is that none of them seem to miss it.
Several years ago, when humans ate plants rich in cellulose, the appendix helped to
digest them.
But as time went on, humans no longer needed to eat such plants and the appendix became
redundant.
This organ does have its uses for other species.
The appendix is still active in plant-eating animals and is an important part of their
digestive system.
Before we move ahead, here’s another video you may like.
When we are done talking about organs, why not take a look at the most important anti-ageing
protein required by our bodies?
Watch this video to learn more about it.
Wisdom teeth
Ever visited a dentist’s office to get your wisdom teeth removed?
If so, you’re certainly familiar with this nightmare.
The only complaint I have about vestigial organs is wisdom teeth.
They are a hell of pain to remove and on top of that have absolutely no use.
That’s like getting a gift you can’t use.
When you go ahead to get rid of it, you have to spend more!
Wisdom teeth were useful for our ancestors in prehistoric times when their diet consisted
of raw meat, tough plants, and difficult roots.
Even the jaws and face size were bigger to accommodate wisdom teeth on either side.
However, with time as humans learned to cook and didn’t depend on tough to chew foods,
wisdom teeth became redundant.
We no longer need extra powerful jaws to chew on our food.
In fact, over 20,000 years, our jaws and faces have become smaller, leaving less room to
accommodate wisdom teeth.
This is the reason many people need to get their wisdom teeth removed.
They push other teeth, misaligning them and causing pain.
Make sure you brush your wisdom teeth properly because food gets trapped there easily, making
your teeth prone to cavities and decay.
And as I told you, visiting the dentist for tooth removal is never wonderful!
Tail bone
Imagine if humans still walked around with tails.
It would be a much different world.
Imagine having beauty parlours dedicated to tail makeovers!
Thankfully, we don’t have tails now.
Instead, we are left with a simple reminder of the bygone era, marked by coccyx.
This is the fancy word for tailbone.
If you don’t know about tailbone, let me remind you.
Remember when you learned how to rollerblade and landed right on your rear end?
You couldn’t sit straight because the bone at the end of your vertebral column hurt so
badly.
That was your tailbone.
This body is the arrangement of several bones at the bottom of your spine.
Our early ancestors had tails.
Tailbones helped them to maintain balance and mobility.
But at this time, they walked on all fours.
Times changed and humans evolved to walk upright.
Tails vanished, and the tailbone no longer served any purpose.
You will be surprised to learn that human embryos still develop tails between five and
eight weeks after conception.
However as the fetus develops and by the time the baby is born, the tail vanishes and the
leftover vertebrae combine to form the tailbone, also known as the coccyx.
Though it is rare, human infants are born with a vestigial tail.
In most cases, doctors are able to surgically remove it without any major issues.
Jacobson’s organ
Jacobson’s organ, also known as vomeronasal organ, is a sense organ located in the soft
tissue of your nasal septum.
It is a part of the olfactory system and found in mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
To explain in simpler terms, Jacobson’s organ is found on the roof of the mouth or
in the nasal lining of mammals and rodents, including humans.
Animals use it to pick up on the smell of the opposite gender and learn about the sexual
behaviour of other wildlife.
So you get how it plays an important role in mating routines of other species.
Thankfully, humans don’t go around twitching their noses to pick up smells of eligible
singles around.
Imagine what the scene would look like!
This is why you don’t need Jacobson’s organ to help you look for a partner.
In fact, experts say there are no nerve fibres connecting the organ to the brain.
So it is sitting pretty much useless in your nose doing absolutely nothing.
Did you know about these body parts?
Have you ever considered your body could be housing organs it no longer needs?
Let us know in the comments below.
We would love to hear from you!