Digestive System Digestive System Reflection After research for an amount of time, have learnt many interesting Facts that would probably never be found on books. here is this website where I found out that Pancreatic enzyme secretion is regulated in a complex manner by several pathways and that the large intestine absorbs water from its inner contents and stores the rest until it is convenient to dispose of it. Attached to the first portion of the large intestine is a troublesome pouch called the appendix. One of the most interesting facts I found out about was that the appendix has no function in modern humans, however it is believed to have been part of the digestive system in our primitive ancestors!!!! After going through the research that I have done for my bio-journal, I have basically answered most of the questions that I have hidden in my heart since I was young. It also gives me a overview of the digestive system. Even after my tedious researches, I know that I have still not answered many questions in my mind.

Like: How was the appendix actually used when it was during our primitive ancestors time or why doesn’t the stomach lining in the stomach get corroded even though the Ph of the stomach varies from 1 - 2.But humans are always curious and we try to enquire more knowledge of the things around us, but some of the questions aren’t even on the internet. Sometimes problems can happen when we get impatient doing projects and like the links may have been deleted by the user or that the information given was fake and causing a lot of precious time to be wasted. But if we were to show off this glog by sharing it on facebook, twitter and other communicating websites, people might plagiarise our hard work into theirs. And this will be quite unfair to the other users who actually did their hearts and souls into their work and people just snatch it away? In this project I also learned how to use the Glogster and how to use the Blog, I learnt how to do proper time management, truthfully I just started my glog on Saturday and it was actually a rush against time. But I would never do this again after learning what It feels like to rush on homework like some mad person.

I also feel that my end product was not that bad even though it was a last minuter work. I actually chose this topic as I feel that I would do best in this topic because I like to research on the digestive system in the human body as it is one of my favorite topic and I like the digestive system, as it was actually taught when we were all but primary school children, but now in upper secondary, we are actually learning even more about the digestive system and this would spark off a interest in the secondary minds. But by doing this bio-journal on this topic, it can improve on the current knowledge that I have now and helping me learn even newer things about the human digestive system Posted by 5 Useless Body Parts | Vestigial Organs 5 Useless Body Parts July 11, 2012 02:00am ET MORE Leonardo drew the Vitruvian Man to illustrate human proportions. Credit: Public domain The human body has a few unneeded parts. We no longer rely on these organs or structures for any serious function, or they have atrophied or degenerated to the point that they don’t serve the function they used to.

Charles Darwin pointed to these vestiges of anatomy in humans and other animals as evidence for evolution . Eventually, by noting how the vestigial organs in one species were similar to functioning organs in other species, biologists concluded two otherwise dissimilar creatures must have shared a common ancestor. Here are five of the most notable vestigial organs in humans: The Appendix: This small pouch attached to your large intestine, at the junction of the small intestine, no longer aids in digestion, and none of the 1 in 20 people who have one removed seems to miss it. In plant-eating vertebrates, it remains part of the digestive system. And a study in 2009 found that the human appendix might be useful , serving as an important storehouse for beneficial bacteria, which can’t wait for a chance a case of diarrhea so they can rush to the gut and save you. The Tailbone: Grandpa didn’t have a tail, but if you go back far enough in the family tree, your ancestors did. Other mammals find their tails useful for balance, but when humans learned to walk, the tail because useless and evolution converted it to just some fused vertebrae we call a coccyx.

Male Nipples: This one might surprise you. Men have nipples because early on in the womb, the gender of a fetus could go either way. Essentially, every fetus starts out female. Eventually, testosterone causes a fetus to veer toward male or female. It’s worth noting that some men have been known to lactate, and men can get breast cancer. Erector Pili and Body Hair: Goose bumps aren’t just to alert you of cold. And in many creatures, fear and confrontation cause muscle fibers called erector pili to activate, forcing hairs to stand up and make the animal appear larger and more threatening. That would’ve been useful to your distant ancestors, those hairy beasts! Wisdom Teeth: Little more than a pain for many people, wisdom teeth probably once served a function, scientists figure. But the human jaw has become smaller over time and the wisdom teeth just have nowhere to grow. It’s also possible that dental hygiene is partly to blame. Before tooth brushing, a young adult would have lost many or most of his teeth, and the incoming wisdom teeth would have been timely. Body Systems Circulatory System Digestive System. - ppt download Presentation is loading. Please wait. Body Systems Circulatory System Digestive System.

Published by Darnell Mayden Modified about 1 year ago Embed Presentation on theme: "Body Systems Circulatory System Digestive System."— Presentation transcript: 1 Body Systems Circulatory System Digestive System 2 Circulatory System On average, your body has about 5 liters of blood continually traveling through it by way of the circulatory system. The heart, the lungs, and the blood vessels work together to form the circle part of the circulatory system. The pumping of the heart forces the blood on its journey.blood vessels 3 Parts of the Circulatory System The circulatory System is divided into three major parts: The Heart The Blood The Blood Vessels 4 The Heart But the heart muscle is special because of what it does. The heart sends blood around your body. The blood provides your body with the oxygen and nutrients it needs. It also carries away waste. Your heart is sort of like a pump, or two pumps in one. The right side of your heart receives blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs. The left side of the heart does the exact opposite: It receives blood from the lungs and pumps it out to the body. 5 Anatomy of the heart 6 Your arteries carry blood away from the heart.

Oxygenated blood is pumped out of the heart through the body's main artery — the aorta. Arteries that branch off the aorta transport blood throughout the body, supplying tissues with oxygen and nutrients. Your veins carry blood back toward the heart. Tiny vessels called capillaries in organs and tissues of the body deliver deoxygenated blood into small veins called venules, which join to form veins. Blood flows through the veins to the body's two main veins (called the vena cavae), which deliver the blood back into the heart. Blood Vessels 7 Major Veins and Arteries 8 Circulation and Lungs 9 1. Oxygen-poor blood (shown in blue) flows from the body into the right atrium. 2. Blood flows through the right atrium into the right ventricle. 3. The right ventricle pumps the blood to the lungs, where the blood releases waste gases and picks up oxygen. 4. The newly oxygen-rich blood (shown in red) returns to the heart and enters the left atrium. 5. Blood flows through the left atrium into the left ventricle. 6.

The left ventricle pumps the oxygen-rich blood to all parts of the body. 10 11 12 blood movement blood movement in heart circulation in different animals (The Vertebrate Circulatorium )circulation in different animals es/hhw/hhw_electrical.html es/hhw/hhw_electrical.html 13 Digestive System 14 15 Chewing When food is being chewed, saliva is squirted into the mouth. Saliva helps to soften the food. It contains an enzyme that helps break down the starch in the food.salivaenzyme starch 16 Swallowing When you swallow a small ball of mushed-up food or liquids, a special flap called the epiglottis (say: eh-pih-glah-tiss) flops down over the opening of your windpipe to make sure the food enters the esophagus and not the windpipe. 17 Esophagus The food is moved along the small intestine in a squeezing motion known as peristalsis. This motion is much the same as squeezing a tube of toothpaste.

All of this movement causes the noise when we say our stomach is "growling."peristalsis 18 Stomach The stomach is a sac shaped like a "j" and is about eight inches long. In the stomach, food is mixed with acids. The muscles in the stomach move, which helps break down the food. The stomach is protected from the acid by a lining. From the stomach, the food pulp is sent to the small intestine. Food leaves the stomach a little bit at a time.acids 19 Other “players” in breaking down food Liver Pancreas Gallbladder 20 Liver The liver processes and distributes nutrients. The liver creates bile, which is important in chemically breaking down the food in the small intestine. It also processes damaged red blood cells and stores vitamins A and D. This organ is also where alcohol, drugs, bacteria and old blood cells are broken down and removed from the body. 21 Pancreas The pancreas is an elongated gland that is below the stomach. The pancreas produces pancreatic juice. The pancreas makes enzymes which are released into the small intestine to break down the food.

The enzymes neutralize the hydrochloric acid from the stomach and stimulates the liver into producing bile and secretes insulin which transports sugar. 22 Gallbladder The gallbladder is a small sac on the underside of the right lobe of the liver. When there is no food in the small intestine bile from the liver is sent to the gall bladder where it is stored in a concentrated form, to be released when food enters the digestive tract. 23 Small Intestine (1)the duodenum, a receiving area for chemicals and partially digested food from the stomach (2)the jejunum, where most of the nutrients are absorbed into the blood (3)the ileum, where the remaining nutrients are absorbed before moving into the large intestine. 24 Absorption Lining the small intestine are millions of fingers called villi. These absorb the chemicals that we need from the food into the body. It is at this point the food is actually in the body. villi 25 Appendix The appendix has no function in modern humans; however it is believed to have been part of the digestive system in our primitive ancestors. 26 Large Intestine Waste products and food that are not absorbed in the small intestine pass into the large intestine.

This waste material is called feces. The large intestine is only five feet long but is larger in diameter than the small intestine. The large intestine includes the colon. In the large intestine, feces are formed from water, undigested food and bacteria. Water is absorbed back into the body so the waste material becomes more solid as it travels through the colon. It may take as long as twenty hours for food to pass completely through the large intestine. 27 A meal may take up to three days to pass through your digestive system. It spends about three hours in your stomach. wf Sistem Pencernaan Manusia | BIO NEWS UPDATE Home > Uncategorized > Sistem Pencernaan Manusia Sistem Pencernaan Manusia Gambar sistem pencernaan manusia Appendix Digestion takes place almost continuously in a watery, slushy environment. The large intestine absorbs water from its inner contents and stores the rest until it is convenient to dispose of it. Attached to the first portion of the large intestine is a troublesome pouch called the (veriform) appendix. The appendix has no function in modern humans, however it is believed to have been part of the digestive system in our primitive ancestors.

Large Intestine The large intestine, or colon, consists of ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid portions. The ascending portion extends from the cecum superiorly along the right abdominal wall to the inferior surface of the liver and bends sharply at a right angle to the left at a curve called the hepatic flexure. From there, it crosses the abdominal cavity as the transverse colon to the left abdominal wall at the splenic flexure and begins the descending colon which traverses inferiorly along the left abdominal wall to the pelvic region. The colon then forms an angle medially from the pelvis to form an s-shaped curve called the sigmoid colon. The last few inches of the colon is the rectum which is a storage site for solid waste which leaves the body by way of an external opening called the anus, controlled by muscles called sphincters. Substances which have not been absorbed in the small intestine enter the large intestine in the form of liquid and fiber. The large intestine or “bowel” is sometimes called the “garbage dump” of the body, because the materials that reach it are of very small use to the body and are sent on to be disposed of.

The first half of the colon absorbs fluids and recycles them into the blood stream. The second half compacts the wastes into feces, secretes mucus which binds the substances, and lubricates it to protect the colon and ease its passage. Of the two to two and one-half gallons of food and liquids taken in by the average adult, only about twelve ounces of waste enters the large intestine. Feces are comprised of about three quarters water. The remainder is protein, fat, undigested food roughage, dried digestive juices, cells shed by the intestine, and dead bacteria. A common disorder of the large intestine is inflammation of the appendix, or appendicitis. Waste that accumulates in the appendix cannot be moved easily by peristalsis since the appendix has only one opening. The symptoms of appendicitis include muscular rigidity, localized pain in the right lower quarter of the abdomen, and vomiting. The chief danger of appendicitis is that is may rupture and empty its contents of fecal matter and waste into the abdominal cavity producing an extremely serious condition called peritonitis.

Epiglottis The epiglottis is the flap of cartilage lying behind the tongue and in front of the entrance to the larynx (voice box). At rest, the epiglottis is upright and allows air to pass through the larynx and into the rest of the respiratory system. During swallowing, it folds back to cover the entrance to the larynx, preventing food and drink from entering the windpipe. The throat contains both an air passage (the wind pipe) and a food passage (the esophagus). If these passages were both open when a person swallowed, air could enter the stomach and food could enter the lungs. Part of the safety hatch that seals off the windpipe is the “epiglottis,” a little valvelike cartilage, which works with the larynx to act as a lid every time we swallow. The larynx draws upward and forward to close the windpipe. This keeps solid food and liquid out of the respiratory tract. At the end of each swallow, the epiglottis moves up again, the larynx returns to rest, and the flow of air into the windpipe continues.

The uvula (Latin for “little grape”) is a fleshy piece of muscle, tissue and mucous membrane that hangs down from the palate. It is the part that moves upward when we say, “Ah!” It flips up and helps close off the nasal passages when we swallow. Contrary to the depictions seen in cartoons, the uvula does not vibrate during singing and shouting and, in fact, has nothing to do with the voice. Gallbladder The gallbladder is an active storage shed, which absorbs mineral salts and water received from the liver and converts it into a thick, mucus substance called “bile,” to be released when food is present in the stomach. The gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped sac which is situated just below the liver and is attached to it by tissues. It stores bile and then releases it when food passes from the stomach to the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine) to help in the process of digestion. It has a capacity of around one and one-half fluid ounces. When food leaves the stomach, a secretion causes the gallbladder to contract and expel its contents into the duodenum, where the bile disperses the fats in the food into liquid.

Pythagoras, the 6th Century BC Greek mathematician, believed that life is based on the four elements of earth, air, fire and water which correspond to the body’s “humors”: blood (hot and moist), phlegm (cold and moist), yellow bile (hot and dry) and black bile (cold and dry). The perfect or imperfect balance of these humors supposedly determined one’s health and intelligence. We still speak in terms of “melancholia” (excess black bile, leading to depression) and “phlegmatic” (sluggish or impassive) and scientists have named the heavy mucus secreted in the respiratory passages – phlegm. Pythagoras was kind of a “square”. Oh, come on; where’s your sense of “humor”? Liver Thirty per cent of the blood pumped through the heart in one minute passes through the body’s chemical factory, which is called the liver. The liver cleanses the blood and processes nutritional molecules, which are distributed to the tissues. The liver also receives bright red blood from the lungs, filled with vital oxygen to be delivered to the heart. The only part of the body which receives more blood than the liver is the brain.

The liver is located at the top of the abdomen, just below the diaphragm and has two main lobes. It is the largest gland in the body, weighing 2.5 to 3.3 pounds. When we eat, more blood is diverted to the intestines to deal with digestive processes; when not eating, three-fourths of the blood supply to the liver comes from the intestines. It also produces about two and one-half pints of bile in its ducts, which is delivered to the gallbladder through a small tube called the “cystic duct” for storage. “Liver” is probably an appropriate name for this gland, which makes the important decision as to whether incoming substances are useful to the body or whether they are waste. The liver is an extremely important organ and has multiple functions. The liver detoxifies blood cells by mixing them with bile and by chemical alteration to less toxic substances, such as the alteration of ammonia to urea. Many chemical compounds are inactivated by the liver through modification of chemical structures. The liver converts glucose to a storage form of energy called glycogen, and can also produce glucose from sugars, starches, and proteins.

The liver also synthesizes triglycerides and cholesterol, breaks down fatty acids, and produces plasma proteins necessary for the clotting of blood, such as clotting factors I, III, V, VII, IX and XI. The liver also produces bile salts and excretes bilirubin. A “lily-livered coward” was someone whose liver contained no blood. The Greeks and Romans sacrificed animals to the gods before going into battle. When the liver was examined, if it was healthy and the blood was bright red, a victory was promised; if it was diseased or the blood was pale, defeat was predicted. Mouth (An Overview) The function of the mouth and its associated structures is to form a receptacle for food, to begin mechanical digestion through chewing (mastication), to swallow food, and to form words in speech. It can also assist the respiratory system in the passage of air. Omentum The omentum is an apronlike double fold of fatty membrane that hangs down in front of the intestines. It contains blood vessels, nerves, lymph vessels and lymph nodes. It acts as a storage for fat and also may limit the spread of infection in the abdominal cavity.

Trachea The trachea begins immediately below the larynx (voicebox) and runs down the center of the front part of the neck ends behind the upper part of the sternum. Here it divides to form two branches which enter the lung cavities. The trachea (windpipe) forms the trunk of an upside-down tree and is flexible, like a vacuum tube, so that the head and neck may twist and bend during the process of breathing. The trachea, or windpipe, is made up of fibrous and elastic tissues and smooth muscle with about twenty rings of cartilage, which help keep the trachea open during extreme movement of the neck. The lining includes cells that secrete mucus along with other cells that bear very small hairlike fringes. This mucus traps tiny particles of debris, and the beating of the fringes moves the mucus up and out of the respiratory tract, keeping the lungs and air passages free. In Russian folk medicine, there is the thought that rubbing the chest with pork fat will cure a cold.

Mustard plasters and boiled snails in barley water were thought to be effective by others, and nobody knows what the ingredients were for early “cure-all tonics” and “snake oil” kits. It is now believed that the best medicine is to rest, keep warm, drink plenty of fluids, and eat good, digestible meals. Sounds good to me…and certainly better smelling. Salivary Glands The mouth also contains the salivary glands which are accessory digestive glands that produce a fluid secretion called saliva. Saliva functions as a solvent in cleansing the teeth and dissolving food particles so that they may be tasted. Saliva also contains starch-digesting enzymes and mucus, which lubricates the pharynx to facilitate swallowing. There are three major pairs of salivary glands. The largest of which is the parotid gland and is located anteriorly and inferiorly to the ear between the skin and the muscle of chewing, the masseter. The parotid duct carries its contents and drains into the mouth. It is the parotid gland that becomes swollen and infected with the mumps or parotitis.

The submandibular gland is located inferiorly to the mandible or jawbone midway along the inner side of the jaw. It has a muscular covering and empties its contents by way of the submandibular duct into the floor of the mouth on both sides. The sublingual gland, as its name implies, lies under the floor of the mouth and on the side of the tongue. Each sublingual gland possesses several small sublingual ducts that empty into the floor of the mouth in an area posterior to the submandibular duct. Rectum The rectum is a short, muscular tube that forms the lowest portion of the large intestine and connects it to the anus. Feces collects here until pressure on the rectal walls cause nerve impulses to pass to the brain, which then sends messages to the voluntary muscles in the anus to relax, permitting expulsion. Small Intestine If the small intestine were not looped back and forth upon itself, it could not fit into the abdominal space it occupies. It is held in place by tissues which are attached to the abdominal wall and measures eighteen to twenty-three feet in the average adult, which makes it about four times longer than the person is tall.

It is a three-part tube of about one and one-half to two inches in diameter and is divided into three sections: (1) the duodenum, a receiving area for chemicals and partially digested food from the stomach; (2) the jejunum, where most of the nutrients are absorbed into the blood and (3) the ileum, where the remaining nutrients are absorbed before moving into the large intestine. The intestines process about 2.5 gallons of food, liquids and bodily waste every day. In order for enough nutrients to be absorbed into the body, it must come in contact with large numbers of intestinal cells which are folded like gathered skirts. Each of these cells contain thousands of tiny finger-like projections called “villi,” and each villus contains microscopic “microvilli”. In one square inch of small intestine, there are about 20,000 villi and ten billion microvilli. Each villus brings in fresh, oxygenated blood and sends out nutrient-enriched blood. The villi sway constantly to stir up liquefied food and remove the nutrients which can be absorbed and then passed through the membranes of the villi into the blood and lymph vessels.

The fatty nutrients go to the lymph vessels, and glucose and amino acids go to the blood and on to the liver. The muscles which encircle this tube constrict about seven to twelve times a minute to move the food back and forth, to churn it, knead it, and to mix it with gastric juices. The small intestine also makes waves which move the food forward, but these are usually weak and infrequent to allow the food to stay in one place until the nutrients can be absorbed. If a toxic substance enters the small intestine, these movements may be strong and rapid to expel the poisons quickly. Spleen The spleen is the largest of the lymphoid tissues. It is just about the size of the heart and is a spongy material which will hold up to .3 gallons of blood. It is located on the left side of the body, just behind the stomach. The spleen is a valuable organ which produces some of the white blood cells, filters the blood, destroys old, worn-out red blood cells and returns needed iron to the blood, disposing of the rest as waste. The spleen also stores excess blood for emergencies; for example, when oxygen in the circulatory system is short.

We often hear that the victim of an auto accident has had a ruptured spleen which has been removed surgically. Because the spleen is so soft and spongy, it cannot be repaired by surgery, so it is removed to stop the loss of blood. Stomach A hollow, sac-like organ connected to the esophagus and the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine), the stomach consists of layers of muscle and nerves that continue the breakdown of food which begins in the mouth. It is also a storage compartment, which enables us to eat only two or three meals a day. If this weren’t possible, we would have to eat about every twenty minutes. The average adult stomach stretches to hold from two to three pints and produces approximately the same amount of gastric juices every twenty-four hours.

The stomach has several functions: (1) as a storage bin, holding a meal in the upper portion and releasing it a little at a time into the lower portion for processing; (2) as a food mixer, the strong muscles contract and mash the food into a sticky, slushy mass; (3) as a sterilizing system, where the cells in the stomach produce an acid which kills germs in “bad” food; (4) as a digestive tub, the stomach produces digestive fluid which splits and cracks the chemicals in food to be distributed as fuel for the body. The process of digestion is triggered by the sight, smell or taste of food, so that the stomach is prepared when the food arrives. Every time you pass a bakery shop or smell your mother’s good cooking, the body begins a digestive process. If the stomach is not filled, these gastric juices begin eroding the stomach lining itself, so fill ‘er up! The Tooth A tooth is a hard structure, set in the upper or lower jaw, that is used for chewing food. Teeth also give shape to the face and aid in the process of speaking clearly.

The enamel that covers the crown (the part above the gum) in each tooth can be broken down by acids produced by the mouth for digestive purposes. This process is called “decay”. To prevent decay, good oral hygiene, consisting of daily brushing and flossing, is necessary. The hardest substance in the human body is one of the four kinds of tissue which make up the tooth. It is enamel and covers the crown (area above the gum line) of the tooth. A bony material called “cementum” covers the root, which fits into the jaw socket and is joined to it with membranes. “Dentin” is found under the enamel and the cementum, and this material forms the largest part of the tooth. At the heart of each tooth is living “pulp,” which contains nerves, connective tissues, blood vessels and lymphatics. When a person gets a toothache, the pulp is what hurts. Appendix The Appendix Digestion takes place almost continuously in a liquid, wet environment the large intestine absorbs the water on it's way towards the rectum , where it will wait to be expelled. Attached to the first portion of the colon is a troublesome pouch called the (veriform) appendix.

They say the appendix has no function in modern humans, however it is believed to have been part of the digestive system in our primitive ancestors. Today some scientists think they have figured out the purpose of the seemingly useless appendix: It seems to produce and protect good bacteria for your colon. Sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. The appendix's job is to reboot the colon when that happens. Below are our favorite sources for enema equipment and products that we use ourselves. We enjoy the convenience and privacy of shopping in our own home. For bulk herbs both Mountain Rose Herbs and Starwest Botanicals are amazing in their supply of fresh herbs and herbal tinctures. This information is strictly educational and is not, in any way, meant to prescribe or to constitute medical advice. The information provided is designed to be used in conjunction with the guidance of a healthcare professional. The author assumes no responsibility for any presumed health effects associated with using this information. Vestigial Organs - Creation Studies Institute Dig Deeper - Recommended Resources Borrowing a line from the Bard of Avon is easy; getting the evolutionary establishment to admit that they were wrong is not.

Imagine everyone’s surprise when researcher and immunologist, William Parker at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. said, “Maybe it's time to correct the textbooks” and “Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a vestigial organ.” That’s the information published today provided by Live Science on the AOL Health News website. The Johnny-come-lately admission of yet another so-called vestigial organ being taken off the no-longer-functioning organs and assorted body parts list – being lost to that oft-touted natural selection, the nearly omnipotent driving force behind “all things evolution” – is not a surprise to Bible believing people or Intelligent Design enthusiasts. This list of no-longer-vestigial organs is continuing to grow. The definition of a vestigial organ, according to my 2004 edition of Prentice Hall’s Biology textbook, states “The vestigial organs are organs that serve no useful function in the organism” (Miller and Levine 2004). These evolutionary educators continue to promote the myth of vestigial organs with the examples of three species of skinks, claiming some species have only remnants or vestiges of legs while others have fully functional legs.

This of course begs the question, why do any modern skinks still have legs? This question is not even raised by our fair-minded educators (Miller and Levine 2004). I looked for a list of these vestigial organs in the several biology textbooks I have in my office and found one that claimed, “In the human body there are more than 100 vestigial structures including the coccyx, or ‘tailbone’, the appendix, the wisdom teeth, and the muscles that move the nose and ears.” They further claimed “The human coccyx is an evolutionary remnant of an ancestral, reptilian tail, and the appendix is the remnant of a large digestive sac.” I will not deal with the statement that “both whales and pythons have vestigial hind legs embedded in the flesh of the body wall” and “Apparently, whales and snakes evolved from four-legged ancestors” (Schraer and Stoltze 1999). While I was not impressed with the undocumented mention of “more than 100 vestigial structures,” I was curious about the examples this textbook used. I endeavored to seek the truth concerning these alleged vestigial structures, beginning with the coccyx.

According to the evolutionary faithful, the human tailbone or coccyx is supposed to be a vestige of our common ape-like ancestors. The Human Coccyx (Tailbone) What happens when a scientist does not take to the indoctrination of Darwinian Evolution? Enter Dr. David Menton. Dr. Menton has a Ph.D. in cell biology from Brown University. He has a long and illustrious career as medical school professor earning the Silver Award for Basic Research from the American Academy of Dermatology. He was awarded the 'Distinguished Service Teaching Award' from Washington University School of Medicine in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997. Dr. Menton was named ‘Teacher of the Year’ at Washington University School of Medicine in 1979 and was elected ‘Professor of the Year’ by that same institution. Dr. Menton has been a thorn in the flesh of those who try to brainwash and indoctrinate others into believing that Darwinian evolution is a fact of science. Why would a medical school professor become a thorn in the flesh of the evolutionary faithful?

The reason is really very simple: because he boldly and unashamedly gives his students, and anyone else who is willing to listen, information that the evolutionary establishment will not disclose. Dr. Menton responded to a clinical case report that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled, “Evolution and the Human Tail” by Dr. Fred Ledley. In his article, Dr. Ledley strongly implied that this growth (called a caudal appendage) was essentially a ‘human tail’, though he admitted that it had virtually none of the distinctive biological characteristics of a tail! (Menton 1994) Dr. Menton corrected the erroneous statements of Darwinian scientists that the human tailbone was a vestigial structure and noted that “all true tails have bones in them that are a posterior extension of the vertebral column. Also, all true tails have muscles associated with their vertebrae which permit some movement of the tail” (Menton 1994). Rather than leaving the reader with the impression that the coccyx has no real function in human beings, Dr.

Menton points out “that most modern biology textbooks give the erroneous impression that the human coccyx has no real function other than to remind us of the ‘inescapable fact’ of evolution. In fact, the coccyx has some very important functions. Several muscles converge from the ring-like arrangement of the pelvic (hip) bones to anchor on the coccyx, forming a bowl-shaped muscular floor of the pelvis called the pelvic diaphragm. The incurved coccyx with its attached pelvic diaphragm keeps the many organs in our abdominal cavity from literally falling through between our legs. Some of the pelvic diaphragm muscles are also important in controlling the elimination of waste from our body through the rectum” (Menton 1994). But this is only one of the allegedly “100’s” of vestigial structures we are being told offer evidence of Darwinian evolution. What of the other three or four mentioned in our biology textbooks? We would not want our wisdom teeth, or those allegedly useless muscles that aid us in moving our ears and noses, to escape the scrutiny of simple logic. Or would we?

Muscles in our Ears and Noses Would it surprise anyone that Darwin himself wrote on this very subject in his book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex? Darwin questioned other experts in the field of anatomy to gain their insights into the reason that men, and several of their alleged ape-like ancestors, had lost the ability to move their ears in ways similar to other mammals. He attributes this to the ability that apes and men have to move their heads in a horizontal plane (emphasis added) allowing them to catch sounds from all directions (Darwin 1890). Why no questions about the ears of a Macaque monkey, and some other monkeys, that have far more developed ear muscles? These muscles enable them to focus towards sounds without using their much touted horizontal planes? Like a great deal of the evolutionary rhetoric, things are just stated in support of the theory and most other non-supportive information is simply excluded. Wisdom Teeth That takes us to the other example from our 1999 biology text book: our wisdom teeth. Jonathan Safarti has earned a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry (with condensed matter and nuclear physics papers substituted) and a Ph.D.

in Spectroscopy (Physical Chemistry) from Victoria University at Wellington. Dr. Safarti addresses this subject in his book entitled By Design: Evidence for Nature’s Intelligent Designer – the God of the Bible. In the publication, Dr. Safarti explains that “wisdom teeth” is a popular term for our third molars, which often don’t develop properly. Instead, they can be impacted against their adjoining teeth, or partially erupt so the gum doesn’t form a bacterially-tight seal (leaving the tooth vulnerable to infection), or erupt crookedly and then cut the cheek frequently. Thus they are often removed (Safarti 2008). Dr. Safarti reminds the reader that modern dentistry has identified the problem with wisdom teeth as being primarily linked to the diet in modern cultures. In non-technological cultures, impacted wisdom teeth are extremely rare as their tougher diet exercises their jaw muscles properly during chewing, thus helping the jaw to develop properly. The grittier diet also results in tooth wear, and the normal compensation for this loss of tooth surfaces is mesial migration (tooth movement towards the front of the mouth) making more room for the back molars.

The modern diet fails both to provide the same jaw exercise, so the jaw doesn’t develop to full size, and to provide tooth wear that would enable them to avoid crowding (Bergman 1998). When I sought to gain a broader perspective about these vestigial organs, I discovered at one time as many as 180 vestigial organs were claimed to exist (Wiedersheim 1895). Dr. Jerry Bergman offers some insight concerning the original 180 specimens. Dr. Bergman has two earned PhD’s. One in human biology, from Columbia Pacific University 1992 and one in measurement and evaluation, minor in psychology, Wayne State University 1976. He has a M.A. in Social Psychology from Bowling Green State University and another M.Ed. from Wayne State University. In his paper entitled “Do Vestigial Organs Exist in Humans,” Dr. Bergman claims that the original list published in 1890 had shrunk down to 0 by 1999 (Bergman 2000).

The Wings of Flightless Birds #10 Much to my surprise, on the very same web publication that announced the possible removal of the appendix from the vestigial structure/organ list, AOL’s Live Science, I came across Brandon Miller’s Top Ten Useless Limbs (and other Vestigial Organs) list (Miller 2009). Miller begins his countdown with the ‘wings of flightless birds.’ What Mr. Miller fails to include in his support of Darwinian Theory is the fact that there are other explanations concerning these apparently useless structures. There is more than one explanation for wings that do not produce flight. Even if the wings of these flightless birds are indeed ‘useless’ for purposes of flight, and even if they were derived from birds that once could fly, this does not falsify the creationist’s model. Loss of feathers is relatively easy by natural processes, whereas acquisition of new complex characters, requiring specific DNA information, is impossible. Loss of wings most probably occurred in a beetle species that colonized a windy island. Again, this is a loss of genetic information, so it is not evidence for microbe-to-man evolution, which requires masses of new genetic information (Wieland 1997).

Secondly, the wings of these flightless birds have a function. Some possible functions, depending on the species of flightless bird, are: balance while running, cooling in hot weather, protection of the rib-cage in falls, mating rituals, scaring predators (emus will run at perceived enemies of their chicks, mouth open and wings flapping), sheltering of chicks, etc. If wings are useless, why are the muscles functional, allowing these birds to move their wings (Safarti 2008)? It might be helpful if those who espouse Darwinian evolution to be a fact of science honestly gave us all the information, pro and con, and then allowed open discussion and academic debate to rule the day. It seems that asking the evolutionary faithful to allow all the evidence to be heard is no longer an option. Rather than talking about different ways to interpret the data, the evolutionary establishment refuses to even allow any alternate or conflicting opinions to be heard. Hind Leg Bones in Whales #9 The ninth in Miller’s countdown is ‘hind leg bones in whales’. Mr. Miller begins his review of this alleged vestigial structure with the ‘just so’ story of vertebrate evolution.

He describes the story of how fish might have become the first land lovers by developing hips and legs and walking out of the water. Then, for no particular reason I can understand, Mr. Miller tells us that this evidently fickle process of evolution caused these one time ‘refugees from the ocean’ to go back into the water. By this process, we are told aquatic mammals allegedly came into existence. Then “despite their apparent uselessness, evolution left traces of hind legs behind, and these vestigial limbs can be seen in the modern whale” (Miller 2009). While the proponents of Darwinian evolution hold up the fossil evidence for whale evolution as one of the best examples of Darwin’s theory in the fossil record, the reality is far different from the hype. It is good to keep in mind that most paleontologists believe that a single-celled organism evolved from inorganic matter and continued to evolve into virtually every living organism that lives today, ever has lived in the past, or ever will in the future live on planet Earth. There is real debate, even among the evolutionary faithful, concerning whale evolution. Dr. Carl Werner is a medical physician and the author of Evolution: The Grand Experiment. In this book, Dr.

Werner interviews many of the leaders in the field of paleontology seeking real answers to the questions concerning evolution. In the chapter devoted to the fossil record of whales, Dr. Werner personally interviews several leaders in the field of whale evolution and discovers that the alleged ancestry of whales is not as unanimous as the evolutionary faithful might want us to think. There are some glaring problems with the evolution of whales, not the least of which is the fact that all whales are carnivores. Even the large filter-feeding baleen whales eat small crustacean animals called krill. Evolution scientists have chosen meat-eating land mammals such as the cat-like Sinonyx or the hyena-like Pachyaena, as the land animal precursor of whales, because of the similarities of the meat-eating teeth when compared to teeth of the oldest fossil whales (Werner 2007). Even though a comparison of teeth is often used to trace evolutionary ancestry, in recent times DNA has been used to search for links in the phylogenetic history of living organisms.

This was the case in Tokyo when researchers at the Tokyo Institute found evidence that hippopotamus DNA is the closest match to the DNA of whales when compared to all other mammal groups (Werner 2007). But what of those alleged remnants of hips in whales? Dr. Jonathan Safarti echoes the opinions of his fellow creationists, Bergman and Howe, when he explains that many evolutionists support whale evolution by alleging that there are vestigial hind legs buried in their flesh. However, these so-called ‘remnants’ are not useless at all, but help strengthen the reproductive organs — the bones are different in males and females. So they are best explained by creation, not evolution (Safarti 1999). There continues to be a myth that some whales have been discovered with hind legs complete with thigh and knee muscles. Dr. Carl Wieland spent much time and effort tracking down this evolutionary ‘urban legend’. In his article entitled “The Strange Tale of the Leg on the Whale,” Dr. Wieland traced the origin of this myth to a book by Dr. R. Baker in which Dr.

Baker writes: ‘And every once in a while a modern whale is hauled in with a hind leg, complete with thigh and knee muscles, sticking out of its side. These atavistic hind legs are nothing less than throwbacks to a totally pre-whale stage of their existence, some fifty million years ago.’ (Baker 1986) In an effort to document Dr. Baker’s source, Dr. Carl Wieland arranged for a colleague to contact Dr. Baker and track down the source for the statement concerning the whale-leg appendage. Dr. Baker indicated that the source for this was Everhard Johannes Slijper (1907–1968). Slijper was professor of general zoology at Amsterdam University, Netherlands and he was the world’s leading authority on whales. In chapter 2 of his classic work is entitled Evolution and External Appearance, he talks about a bone in whales that he calls the ‘pelvic bone’, which is some 30 centimeters (12 inches) long, “but unlike the pelvis of normal mammals, it is not attached to the vertebral column.” This bone serves as an anchorage for the male reproductive organs.

Slijper goes on to say that sometimes “another small bone may be attached to it.” Being an evolutionist, he naturally interprets this smaller piece of bone as a throw-back to the femur, or thigh bone, of the whale’s evolutionary ancestor. However, he states that in these occasional cases, the bone in question is generally 2.5 cm (just over an inch) in length, and that it is sometimes ‘fused’ with the pelvic bone (Wieland 1998). The attempt to further track down the alleged whale with a “hind leg, complete with thigh and knee muscles, sticking out of its side,” brought Dr.

Wieland to write: “the closest thing to the claim which launched our pursuit of this whole trail is where Slijper states, ‘Thus, at Ayukawa Whaling Station (Japan), a Sperm Whale was brought in 1956, with a 5-inch tibia projecting into a 5½-inch “bump,” and a Russian factory ship in the Bering Sea had a similar experience in 1959.’ No photo is provided.” Ignoring – for the moment – the purely anecdotal nature of the evidence, what is it that is being claimed? Sperm whales are massive — up to about 19m (62 feet) long. A 14 cm (5.5 inch) ‘bump’ on its side would look like an almost unnoticeable pimple. Inside the bump is a piece of bone, some 12.5 cm (5 inches) ‘long’. There is no evidence given of anything which could reasonably be called a ‘leg’. Slijper calls the bone inside the ‘bump’ a ‘tibia’.

But we have already seen that it doesn’t take much for evolutionary believers to label abnormal pieces of bone in ways to fit their naturalistic religion (Wieland 1998). So the search for photographic evidence of an atavistic leg, dangling uselessly from the underbelly of a whale, ends in failure. The reason such myths find a home in Darwinian theory, is due to the fact that ‘just so’ stories rarely provide any substantive evidence. Whether it the atavistic leg in whales or the prehensile tails in neonates, looks can indeed be deceiving, especially if the entire theory is based upon a faulty premise. Erector Pili and Body Hair #8 Erector Pili are smooth muscle fibers that are responsible for giving human skin a bumpy appearance normally referred to as goose bumps. The evolutionary establishment sees all evidence through the lens of Darwinian spectacles. The conclusions they reach are affected by their chosen paradigm of naturalism. Therefore, they see absolutely no reason for humans to have goose bumps. While the small size of these miniature muscles make them likely targets for evolutionists, Dr. Menton reminds us that the size of these structures should not be any indication of their usefulness to the organism.

As is the case with all allegedly vestigial organs, not understanding their current function does not mean that they have no function, e.g. the now non-vestigial tonsils and appendix. We are reminded by Dr. Menton, while virtually all of the larger muscles of the body have obvious (as well as some not so obvious) mechanical functions, smaller muscles are not necessarily useless. For example, two of the smallest muscles in the body, the stapedius and the tensor tympani, serve to dampen the movements of the auditory ossicles and the tympanic membrane (respectively) preventing loud sounds from overloading these delicate structures of the middle ear. In general, most small, short muscles of the body produce fine adjustments in the movement of larger muscles (Menton 2000). With an almost perfunctory statement alluding to the eyebrow being the only worthy statement of function for body hair, the proponent of the ‘Top Ten Vestigial Organs’ goes on to say that, aside from the possible aesthetic qualities influencing sexual attraction, “all the rest of the hair, though, is essentially useless” (Miller 2009).

Here is where the obvious influence of Darwinian thought starts to resemble anti-science. It may very well be a problem on both sides of the debate, that is, coloring our interpretation of the data through our individual worldview rather than looking at all the evidence independent of bias. However, Creationists and Intelligent Design theorists are willing to look at all the possibilities without automatically excluding any of them. We see how the concept of ‘molecules to men’ evolutionary thinking, and their unswerving allegiance to naturalism, clouds the minds of the evolutionary faithful and colors all of their conclusions. They will inevitably assume that man shares a common ancestor with other primates. Primates are usually very hairy; therefore, man must have lost his hair, because he no longer needed it. This is why goose bumps are seen as a rudimentary vestige of our furry relatives, puffing themselves up to appear larger to predators or generating warmth in particularly cold circumstances. It may be too easy to play devil’s advocate with this subject, but just for a minute indulge me. First of all, is human hair really degenerating fur, lost to eons of clothing and improvements in central heating?

Can eyebrows, and the ability to grow the hair on our heads longer than other body hair really be traced back to the sexual mores of our alleged furry forefathers, as those 'wise of all' scientists – the proponents of evolutionary psychology – tell us? Is it really as cut and dried as fur and hair being the same thing? Let’s look at the similarities and the differences between hair and fur. First of all, hair and fur have the same chemical composition. They are both made of keratin and when speaking of non-humans, the term “fur” is used to describe the coat of fur-bearing animals. The real difference between fur and hair is found in the core of the hair follicle. In the case of animals, the hair follicle allows for more insulation to coat the hair shaft. Human hair lacks this ability and therefore, it does not provide the same insulation and weather proofing that animal fur provides. Another area of difference is in the growth patterns of fur versus hair. In humans, the hairs grow distinctively from one another without the typical, closely woven appearance of fur. Animal hair will fall out at a predetermined length, while some human hair, e.g.

head hair, facial hair in men, etc., can be grown to considerable length. Animal hair seems to have double the composition of human hair and therefore, animal hair is much thicker than human hair. Because evolutionary biology assumes common ancestry between animals and humans, these biologists automatically assume that similarities indicate common ancestry. This is why Creationists and Intelligent Design theorists cry foul when only one possible explanation is presented. Bible believing people see similarities in design as evidence of the ultimate Intelligent Designer, God. Man did not lose body hair as he made an evolutionary leap across time. Man was created with the God-given ability to be fruitful and multiply. He was not some Geico Neanderthal moving up the evolutionary ladder to modern man. The forever-missing link aside, man has reamined virtually unchanged since he was created in the Garden of Eden. Some men are hairier than others. I remember the professional wrestler, ‘George the Animal Steele’, whose body hair was so thick he would have to shave it. It left him with what looked like a fur collar of body hair around his considerably thick neck. 'The Animal' walked with a stooped posture, a hairless head and a thick mat of natural fur-like hair on his exposed arms and torso.

Wrestling broadcasters often speculated that The Animal was indeed "the missing link." The fly in this proverbial ointment, as is usually the case, was the truth. George the Animal Steele was not the Neanderthal throwback his promoters presented to his Worldwide Wrestling Federation (WWF) fans. George was a teacher with both a bachelors and a master’s degree from Central Michigan University. George honed his skills in wrestling while serving as both a teacher and the amateur wrestling coach at Madison High School in Madison Heights, Michigan. In reality, George was nothing like his WWF persona. George was just an educator-turned-professional-wrestler who turned his extraordinary fur-like body hair into a successful show-biz shtick. In reality, George was not really a throwback to some long-lost evolutionary ancestor, any more than our human hair is the remnant of any long-lost evolutionary ape-like forefathers. The Human Tailbone or Coccyx #7 (See previous) The Blind Fish Astyanax Mexicanus #6 The next in the line of the top ten vestigial organs is not really what it is being promoted to be.

Like the 'bait and switch' tactic of the evolutionary faithful, adaptability is being promoted as evidence of the ‘molecules to men’ grand theory of evolution. Adaptability is not evidence of inorganic molecules forming themselves into organic molecules by natural selection and beneficial mutation. Adaptability is not evidence of a living single-celled microorganism that – contrary to all biogenetic law – is going to be able to produce new information allowing it to morph itself into every living creature that has ever lived, or will ever live, on planet Earth. This ability to transform one form of life into another is often referred to as “macro-evolution.” It is descriptive of the large and complex changes being postulated by Darwin’s theory. Smaller changes can be produced by an incremental accumulation of genetic changes due to a loss of genetic information, or loss can occur due to atrophy. These are the types of changes that produce blind fish or blind salamanders, etc., and do not require new information to be generated. The ‘use it or lose it’ type of changes we observe are often referred to as “micro-evolution.” These are the horizontal changes within a species, e.g.

the variety of species within canis familiaris from the Chihuahua to the Great Dane. These changes within the dog species are due to the incredible variety contained in the DNA; that is, information already contained therein and not newly created through natural selection and beneficial mutation. The ability to breed in and out certain genetic traits is far more indicative of special creation and Intelligent Design theory than Darwinian evolution. These changes are real, but not sufficient in nature to produce the vertical changes postulated by Darwinian Theory. As noted previously, the fact that a fish, or other creature, may suffer the loss of ability in part, or the whole, of an organ or organ system is called atrophy, not evolution. The fact that muscles left unused will shrink with time and become virtually useless is not evidence of macro-evolution at all. It is even less supportive of adaptation, or micro-evolution. The loss of function is not necessarily traced back to loss of genetic information and, as modern genetics has clearly established, no major changes can be achieved without new genetic information being generated. Another incredible truth concerning our blind fish is that scientists have been able to reverse their blindness, so the loss of sight was not even permanent. That raises another question.

Can some of these losses, e.g. flightless birds and insects, be reversed? The answer, according to 2003 report in the Washington Post, is a resounding “yes” (Gugliotta 2003). The article went on to say how surprised these researchers were to discover that insects commonly known as ‘walking sticks,’ had evolved from winged to wingless and back again to winged. If is all sounds a bit confusing, don’t be alarmed. Darwinian Theory often sounds ridiculous when the ‘just so’ stories get told. Wisdom Teeth in Humans #5 (See previous) The Sexual Organs of Dandelions #4 Here is another example of the skewed thinking that permeates all evolutionary writing. The bait and switch tactic is used here again to imply that not using a particular organ, or ability, is change that is supportive of macroevolution.

This ‘use it or lose it’ scenario sounds a lot like Lamarckism, a debunked theory named for the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829) who postulated that certain traits in an organism (occurring during the life time of that organism) could be passed on to their offspring. Charles Darwin entertained this Lamarckian concept as a possible adjunct to natural selection (Desmond & Moore 1991). The dandelion has the proper organs, e.g. the stamen and pistil, for sexual reproduction, but opts for asexual reproduction. This is seen as supportive of Darwin’s Theory even though, by Darwinian standards, sexual reproduction is considered superior for the proliferation of the species over asexual reproduction (Fisher 1975). Dandelions are being held up as the ‘poster boy’ for asexual reproduction and evidence of vestigial structures. However, the fact remains that other organisms have this ability using both methods to reproduce, e.g.

several species of algae, many protists and fungi, flora, and aphids along with some species of amphibians and reptiles, the hammerhead shark (Eilperin 2007) and the blacktip shark (Chapman et al. 2008). So does the loss of an ability to reproduce sexually support Darwin’s Theory? When talking about dandelions, it is important to remember that although they evidently choose to reproduce asexually, the stamen and the anther of the dandelion remain intact and fully functional. Dandelions self-pollinate, they do not clone or bud, thereby offering an advantage that mere cloning or budding does not. Given the fact that most evolutionary biologists believe asexual reproduction preceded sexual reproduction, the loss of the ability to reproduce sexually is really evidence of devolution, not evolution (Miller and Levine 2004). We have also been told that the beautiful flower of the dandelion is a vestigial structure, since the dandelion is no longer reproducing sexually.

This is an interesting but flawed argument, because the flowers of the dandelion are not superfluous at all, when one considers the symbiotic relationships that undeniably exist in God's creation. Dandelion leaves are more nutritious than anything you can buy in the local health food store. They're higher in beta-carotene than carrots. The iron and calcium content is phenomenal, greater than spinach. You also get vitamins B-1, B-2, B-5, B-6, B-12, C, E, P, and D, biotin, inositol, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc by using a tasty, free vegetable that grows on virtually every lawn. The root contains the sugar inulin, plus many medicinal substances. Dandelion root is one of the safest and most popular herbal remedies. The specific name, Taraxacum officinale, implies that it's used medicinally. The decoction is a traditional tonic that is supposed to strengthen the entire body, especially the liver and gallbladder, where it promotes the flow of bile, reduces inflammation of the bile duct, and helps get rid of gall stones.

It is good for chronic hepatitis, reduces liver swelling and jaundice, and helps indigestion caused by insufficient bile. Don't use it with irritable stomach or bowel, or if you have an acute inflammation (Morrow 1994). Fake Sex in Virgin Whiptail Lizards (Vestigial Behavior) #3 Coming in as number 3, is a species of lizard designated genus Cnemidophorus. The females of this particular species do not need the males, because they reproduce by parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis is a form of reproduction in which an unfertilized egg develops into a new individual. Despite the fact that it is unnecessary and futile to attempt copulation with each other, the lizards still like to try, and occasionally one of the females will start to act like a male by attempting to copulate with another female. Evolutionists say these lizards evolved from a sexual species and the behavior to copulate like a male – to engage in fake sex – is a vestigial behavior; that is, a behavior present in a species, but expressed in an imperfect form, which in this case is useless (Miller 2009).

The Whiptails are not the only parthenogenic organisms on the planet. This form of asexual reproduction is also found in some fishes, several varieties of insects, and a few species of frogs and lizards. The largest lizard known to exhibit this form of reproduction is the female Komodo dragon. Unlike the whiptails, Komodo dragons continue to be able to reproduce sexually. Unlike their smaller cousins – the Whiptails – who always produce female offspring, Komodo dragons that reproduce asexually only produce males. Unlike our evolutionary counterparts, we do not see everything through the lens of Darwinian spectacles. Evolution assumes in the case of the Whiptail lizard, that the ability to reproduce asexually via parthenogenesis is the result of evolutionary change. This is an assumption that is not consistent throughout Darwinian Theory. The standard view is that the oldest life forms are cyanobacteria that have a photosynthetic capability, survive and thrive in anaerobic conditions, and allegedly arose in the aquatic primordial soup of primitive Earth approximately 3.5 billion years ago. I like to call this “the original ‘just so’ story of evolution.

Cyanobacteria belong to a relatively new category of organisms called Archaea (Jarrell et al. 1999) and are commonly referred to as blue-green algae. Under normal circumstances, blue-green algae reproduce asexually, thrive without oxygen, and can endure extreme temperatures in aquatic environments. These are some of the reasons they are considered the most primitive form of bacteria on the planet. Included in this category are the thermophiles that thrive in conditions considered primordial by today’s standards. The dirty little secret is that microorganisms – including some species of blue-green algae – reproduce both sexually and asexually, but when it comes to evolutionary theory, the details don’t seem to matter that much. The writer of our top ten focuses on the fact that female Whiptails still occasionally act like males attempting a sexual union with other females. Creationists would theorize that Whiptails were created to reproduce both ways and eventually, through natural selection, they completely switched over to asexual reproduction. That does not mean that instinctual behaviors intended to allow these creatures to “be fruitful and multiply” would completely disappear, hence the occasional female acting like a male and attempting sexual reproduction with another female.

So, yes, in this case we do seem to have a “vestigial” behavior if we define “vestige” purely to mean a “leftover” or trace evidence of something that once existed, but it is certainly not a leftover of any evolutionary process. Rather, it is a behavior that signifies a useful trait that once existed in a more fully-endowed population, and has been lost forever in the degenerated form of the whiptail that survives today. Intelligent Design theorists would say much the same, noting that both forms of reproduction are intended to propagate the species in question. Although it is considered more beneficial for the health of a species to reproduce sexually, e.g. twice the genetic information, less inbreeding, etc., some creatures have not benefited as much from sexual reproduction. For example, parthenogenesis is forced on some species of wasps when they become infected with bacteria, as in the genus Wolbachia (Nair 2007). With all the details of the evolution of microorganisms aside, the trace memories of sexual reproduction among a now (but not always) asexually reproducing species of lizard, hardly confirm this practice as evidence of upward change, e.g. Darwinian evolution.

Male Breast Tissue and Nipples #2 Here our top ten list becomes almost comical. Our writer states that both men and women have nipples, because in early stages of fetal development an unborn child is effectively sexless. It is true of all neonates that nipples are present in both males and females, and it is only in a later stage of fetal development that the more overt signs of sex differentiation are evident in the fetus. All mammals, male and female, have mammary glands. Our top ten list compiler notes, if male nipples are truly vestigial; they may perform a small role in sexual stimulation and a small number of men have been able to lactate. However, he claims they are not fully functional and, because cancer can grow in male or female breast tissue, the tissue can be dangerous (Miller 2009). The initial statement concerns the pathway that decides the sexual identity of a fetus. The author of the top ten list seems willfully ignorant when he implies that the sex of a child is determined solely by hormonal secretions. Not one mention of the genetic factors involved in sex determination is offered or even alluded to.

The fact that some male breast tissue has been known to lactate indicates that these anatomical features still function as originally designed. Sexual stimulation, for some reason, is not really a sufficient function according to our evolutionary friends. Dr. Jonathan Safarti asks: what is the evolutionist’s explanation for male nipples? Did males evolve (or devolve) from females? Or did ancestral males suckle the young? No evolutionist would propose either of these options. He concludes that male nipples are neither evidence for evolution nor evidence against creation (Safarti 2008). Remembering that both men and women are made in God’s image, should give us some insight into why some features are common to both the genders. However, we must remember that evolution leaves no room for an Intelligent Designer, much less an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God. The Human Appendix # 1 There it was! The number one allegedly vestigial organ in our top ten list: the human appendix. Yet this was the organ that is being demoted off the list of so-called vestigial organs and appeared in the Live Science.com article that suggested it was not really vestigial at all (Choi 2009).

As we noted in the opening paragraph of this article, Live Science reported: “Maybe it's time to correct the textbooks,” said researcher William Parker, an immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. “Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a 'vestigial organ.” Our top ten promoter opines, in plant-eating vertebrates, the appendix is much larger and its main function is to help digest a largely herbivorous diet. The human appendix is a small pouch attached to the large intestine where it joins the small intestine and does not directly assist digestion. Biologists believe it is a vestigial organ, left behind from a plant-eating ancestor. Then Mr. Miller states in a monumental example of bogus reasoning, in 2000 there were nearly 300,000 appendectomies performed in the United States, and 371 deaths from appendicitis. Any secondary function that the appendix might perform certainly is not missed in those who had it removed before it might have ruptured. Aside from the attempt to prove an organ vestigial, because it might become infected and result in death, not all the scientists agree with this view. As we noted earlier, Dr.

David Menton has a Ph.D. in cell biology from Brown University. Dr. Menton has had a long and distinguished career teaching medical students anatomy and physiology. Dr. Menton provides the following information on the allegedly vestigial organ called the appendix. The appendix, like the once "vestigial" tonsils and adenoids, is a lymphoid organ (part of the body's immune system) which makes antibodies against infections in the digestive system. Believing it to be a useless evolutionary “left over,” many surgeons once removed even the healthy appendix whenever they were in the abdominal cavity. Today, removal of a healthy appendix under most circumstances would be considered medical malpractice (Menton 1994). So, the list of vestigial organs continues to shrink. The more we discover about our great God and Savior, Messiah Jesus, the more we stand in awe of His creative abilities. The more true science looks at the universe, the more evidence piles up in support of special creation. Today we are seeing the cracks in the foundation supporting Darwinian Evolution.

One by one the pillars are giving way to true science and the warning of the Apostle Paul to his son in the faith, Timothy, becomes all the more timely: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. I Tim. 6:19-20 KJV Submitted by: Steven Rowitt, Th.M., Ph.D. Â Chief Technical Advisor

Question: What organ is believed to have been part of the digestive system in our primitive ancestors, but seems to have no function in modern humans?
Answer: Appendix