Almost fondly, given how amusing it all seems if you are old enough to remember when they were taken seriously. From a piece on how the concept of “pseudogenes” is likewise headed for the composter.
vestigial organs
Jerry Coyne is already mad at Marcos Eberlin
Jerry will never be short of an explanation, no matter what the circumstance.
Oops. “Functionless vestige” of evolution turns out to be better strategy
For centuries, researchers knew that Euglenids, a diversified family of aquatic unicellular organisms, could reshape their bodies in any number of elegant ways but no one knew why they did it. Some researchers think they now know: “Amongst biophysicists, metaboly was thought to be a way to swim in a fluid, where these cells live,” Read More…
Appendix must be important: Evolved over 30 times
From ScienceDaily: Although it is widely viewed as a vestigial organ with little known function, recent research suggests that the appendix may serve an important purpose. In particular, it may serve as a reservoir for beneficial gut bacteria. Several other mammal species also have an appendix, and studying how it evolved and functions in these Read More…
Appendix has use after all?
Has recently retired from being “vestige of evolution” … From Jordan Rosenfeld at Mental Floss: While the appendix is not required for digestive functions in humans, Belz tells mental_floss, “It does house symbiotic bacteria proposed by Randal Bollinger and Bill Parker at Duke University to be important for overall gut health, but particularly when we Read More…
Appendix is not even redundant, let alone not vestigial?
So says some new research. First, remember “vestigial organs”? We learned in high school that vestigial organs, including the appendix, show that there is no design in nature. Being teens, we never considered the implications of the fact that the proposition is never supposed to work the other way. That is, now that almost all such Read More…
PZ Myers: Vestigial means “reduced in size or utility compared to homologous organs in other animals” Huh?
But wouldn’t his definition make all kinds of organs and limbs vestigial in most life forms?