If It Were A Choice, Who’d Make It?
I’ve been writing a lot about evolution lately. What it is, what boundaries we set upon it — I’ve been planning to write about evolutionary hangovers, as it were.
Content warning: there’s a lot about atypical sexualities, including the LGBTQIA+ world, but there’s also some discussion of sexual assault, rape, and child abuse. If you want to avoid this discussion, feel free to stop here. I won’t be offended. In fact, here’s two less-controversial articles:
By hangovers, I refer mainly to vestigial traits — that is, traits that benefited our ancestors, but are superfluous in our modern existence.
The appendix is an offshoot of the digestive tract, right in between the small intestine and large intestine. In some critters, the cecum — the jumbo version of an appendix — plays a major role in digestion, but in us, it’s argued whether it’s vestigial or not. Some evidence suggests the appendix plays a role in microbial colonization of our gut. (That is, when we lose our good gut…
