Vestigial Claims from LiveScience

On January 07, 2008 in In the News, Science Related

LiveScience has an interesting list of the top 10 “Useless Limbs (and Other Vestigial Organs)“. I can’t help chuckling at some of the things these people list when doing these types of lists. But for the sake of shedding some intelligence on the issue, I’ll read through yet another redundant repetition of their darwinistic-mantra.

Before we start, we’ll take a look at the identifying term, “Vestigial”. Vestigial simply means that something is no longer used in a way that it was at one time. In “higher” animals for instance, some of your toes would be considered Vestigial, because you do longer climb around on trees with them like you did when you were a monkeh’!

The first problem with this type of discussion is that to define anything as Vestigial, you have to assume that Evolution happened, and then people turn around and use “Vestigial” objects as evidence for Evolution…Livescience must be playing the science-game with prison-rules - anything goes.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Vestigial structures demonstrate a loss in functionality, which is the wrong direction to demonstrate goo-to-you-by-way-of-the-zoo evolution. Evolutionists have such a difficult time demonstrating new functionality and fundamentally new information, so instead of doing real work, they would rather sit back, and make up b.s. about what was, from what is.

I don’t need to address each “evidence”, simply because they follow a commonality that doesn’t require a defense. Birds could lose their original use of wings, sure, but that doesn’t prove evolution in any way, since these creatures would be LOSING their abilities, and not gaining them as needed. Not to mention the wings of practically all birds alive today serve a very important survival role in the birds today - penguins use theirs for balancing and swimming, which are both very crucial given their environment and life-style.

The second evidence is the classic legs bones of a whale, riiiiiiiight. They used to claim the “hip-bones” were vestigial in whales - I guess they finally gave that up? The “hip-bones” are actually a couple bones used for anchoring muscles that aid in reproduction. Their function is different in males and females, and don’t even touch the spinal column. But facts aren’t necessary when Evolution is in question.

I recall reading a popular article many years back called “29+ Evidences for Macroevolution” - online at http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section2.html#atavisms_ex1 - which mentioned a similar topic. There is a small section beneath the title of “Living whales and dolphins found with hindlimbs” that is supposed to send shock and wonder into people everywhere. He begins by quoting mainstream Creation Scientist Carl Wieland discussing a series of conversations he had with an Evolutionist in the past. You can read Carl’s article online at http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i3/whale_leg.asp.

Dr. Theobald, the author of “29+”, uses the term “Atavism” instead of “Vestigial”. The definition of “atavism” simply states that it’s a throw-back of sort to something that previously existed. It would be comparable to a human being born with fish-scales for skin, showing that humans descended from fish in the past.

One major problem with this idea is that it again assumes that evolution happened, and is in turn used as evidence for evolution. Occasionally humans are born with extra ribs, fingers, or nipples, yet no evolutionists claim that we evolved from Acanthostega, or pigs.

Theobald goes on in his article to describe a “shrunken cartilaginous femur, tibia, tarsus, and metatarsal” that was apparently found connected to a 45 foot long humpback whale. The “bones” are actually all fused together, and apparently were “completely inside the body cavity and attached to the pelvic rudiments.” Uh-oh, looks like Theobald still considered the muscle-anchors as “pelvic rudiments“. Oh well. Once interesting thing to note here is the claim that this “leg” was connected to the “pelvic rudiments.” This seems to suggest that it may actually be a growth based upon some genetic mistake in the instructional code to produce the anchor-bones.

Diseases exist today that can grossly deform bones; including Paget’s, which can have subtle to horrendous effects on people today. Additionally, genetic information can undergo copying-errors, resulting in redundant data which in turns causes redundant phenotypical developments - such as the case with baby Jie-jie, the baby born with three developed arms. Read more at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13046061/. Who’s to know if the anchor-bones of this humpback whale weren’t redundantly copied creating the illusion of atavistic appendages?

Unfortunately, the data-pool for this type of claim is very shallow. We don’t have a lot of information, we don’t have a lot of experiments leading to certainty, and as Theobald states in the closing words of this section, “This extraordinary finding is unlikely to be repeated, as the International Whaling Commission gave humpback whales worldwide protection status in 1966“, meaning we’re not able to go out and study a few more to test the claims of these imaginative evolutionists?

Erector Pili and Body Hair is the next “vestigial” item on LiveScience’s list. They claim that “…that hair…is essentially useless.” This section includes more of the arbitrary story-telling to explain what we have today. They say that when hairs stand up it may “give an animal a larger appearance that might scare off potential enemies, and a coat that is thicker and warmer. Humans, though, don’t have thick furs like their ancestors did, and our strategy for several thousand years has been to take the fur off of other warm looking animals to stay warm.” So, I’m wondering, why the heck did we lose the hair in the first place if it served as an environmental advantage? Certainly the offspring with natural thick coats would do better than those who have to go out and hunt down a coat in order to survive - I guess evolution took a break, and now we’re all slightly-hairy, and not covered in luscious flowing locks of hair today.

So they claim that the Erector Pili, the small muscle fibers connected to our body hairs, are vestigial because we don’t use them the same way animals today do. One major difference between our hair configurations and that of animals is their connection. In humans, Erectores pilorum are smooth muscle, meaning we have no voluntary control over them. Animals on the other hand enjoy skeletal muscle connections, giving them the ability to raise their hair at will. Humans on the other hand need an outside stimuli, like a cold breeze.

Goose bumps are the visible effect from the activation of our Erectores Pilorum switching “on”. Goose bumps typically happen when our body temperature drops, causing a shaking to begin. This shaking creates friction, which in turn heats the body in an attempt to “fix the problem.” Useless? No, not at all, necessary for survival? No, not at all. The human body has many “nice-but-not-necessary” additions, much like a Mercedes that has wipers on the head-lights. Among these are our eyebrows, which keep sweat from slipping into our eyes, arm-pit hair which protected our torso and arms from excessive rubbing, and hair on our head with serves in temperature regulation.

Next up, the Coccyx (Human Tail bone). Here it comes, ready for it? “These fused vertebrae are only vestiges that are left of the tail that other mammals still use for balance, communication, and in some primates, as a prehensile limb.” LiveScience goes on to claim that “As our ancestors were learning to walk upright, their tail became useless, and it slowly disappeared.” How do they know that? Well, because we don’t have tails today. If things had been different, and we did have tails, the story would have been “The tail has served a vital purpose throughout the development of modern man from his ancestors. It was probably preserved for its intimidation purposes, and added extra weight for balancing in difficult areas that were necessary for escaping predators.”

It’s comedic that some evolutionists still use this as evidence for their silly theory. Educated evolutionists have long dropped it. Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education said the following in a 1999 debate.

“Actually, that’s [humans tails] not an evolutionary issue at all. It’s a matter of developmental biology. It’s a matter of what happens when the sperm fertilized that egg, and that egg grew into a baby, and that baby was born. I couldn’t give you the exact precise biochemical explanation, but probably at some point where the genes instructing how many vertebrae to lay down in that vertebral column duplicated itself a couple extra times by mistake.”

Dr. Eugenie Scott, 10-11-1999
The Mike Rosen Show, KOA Radio
http://www.reasons.org/resources/multimedia/interview/19991011.ram

Regarding the function of the tail bone, Its functions are well-known and documented. I strongly suggest the book “‘Vestigial Organs’ are Fully Functional“, by Dr. Jerry Bergman and Dr. George Howe. Additionally, you can read a little more about the Human Coccyx online at http://www.creationinthecrossfire.com/Articles/VestigialOrgans.html.

Blind fish is the next evidence offered. Some fish which live in caves, where there is no light, have become blind…big deal. People who do not use their legs will notice that they lose the ability to use their legs due to atrophy. This has happened to these fish over generations. Use it or lose it, buddy!

Wisdom Teeth. This is a common argument, yet completely wrong. I guess LiveScience didn’t feel that it is necessary to acknowledge that many people have absolutely no problem whatsoever with their wisdom teeth, they grow in just fine. African Americans usually have very little problem with theirs. I know people personally who have no problem. I unfortunately do have a problem, but what is to blame? Certainly my jaw size, but what is to blame for that? Evolution? Or a soft-diet? Humans have moved away from a hard-diet of nuts and seeds to softer diets of pizza and cheeseburgers. For this, our jaws are not exercised as much while eating, and are much smaller than their potential allows. Many people today, such as the Australian Aborigines use their jaws as tools, which make their jaws larger and stronger, eliminating any threat of wisdom-tooth pain.

The problem is largely our diets and habits, not our ancestry.

The last point I’m going to mention is their use of the “Human Appendix is Vestigial” argument. I was walking through Walmart in late December of 2007 when I came across Discover magazine, showing the January 2008 issue articles. I was interested in one of them, “Function of Appendix Explained.” The main list was called “Top 100 Science Stories of 2007″, and is available on the Discover Magazine website at http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jan/year-in-science-2007. The Appendix is number 96. Mark Schauss made a brief mention of it in his blog at www.markschauss.com/?p=328 where he posted the following:

“96 - Function of Appendix Explained - Turns out the appendix is where the body stores beneficial bacteria. If you had yours removed, I would suggest taking probiotics every day (probably a good idea if you didn’t either).”

The function of the appendix has been known for a long time now, but I guess the Evolutionists got stuck in that rut of “Evolution did it” which kept them from doing any real science and discovering the functions of “vestigial” organs much sooner.

So in the end, LiveScience disappointed me again. The list of “vestigial” organs has greatly diminished in the last century. It has gone from over 100, down to just a handful, and even those are looking awfully shaky.

Perhaps it is time for the evolutionists to give up, and start doing some real science?

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