7 useless body parts you have now for no reason

The nipples’ main use for a woman is obvious. It’s to feed newborn babies like other mammals do. But on a man, they serve no purpose. Now although they have no functional reason for being there, genetically, for roughly six weeks between conception and until sexual differentiation, every human fetus looks identical.

Scientists have determined that the female template is the default for all humans. So we all begin forming with nipples, and since having them does not change our ability to further evolve or reproduce, there’s no need for natural evolution to remove them.

This is my sensitive subject. I have allergies in the summer and I get stuffed up in the winter. I can’t win! This one might just surprise you because you probably thought your sinuses were actually useful to you in some way. But the truth is nobody can actually explain why we still have them.

Research suggests that for survival an earlier generation of humans may have had a heightened sense of smell due to having nasal sinuses lined with odor receptors. But today these large cavities in our heads are just filled with mucous and cause headaches.

The gallbladder causes a whole lot of issues for a lot of people, and there is simply no reason for it existing. A small pouch that’s just under the liver, the gallbladder is basically a warehouse of bile that’s been secreted by the liver, squeezing it out into the small intestine when it’s needed.

Though the bile does have a benefit, helping to break down fat for digestion, the gallbladder isn’t essential at all. In fact, it does a lot more harm than good. It’s prone to conditions like gallbladder cancer, cholecystitis, which is inflammation of the gallbladder, and gallstones, which are very painful and can lead to pancreatitis.

Part of the lymphatic system, which is an essential part of the immune system, tonsils are a pair of small lymph nodes in the throat. There is one on each side in the back of the tongue, and they’re actually one of the first lines of defense against respiratory infections. However, their existence is technically redundant.

Yes, your ears have muscles. The extrinsic ear muscles are three muscles — the superior, the posterior and the anterior — that surround the outer ear. On animals like rabbits and dogs, these muscles make sense because they’re used to move the ears independently of their heads. Scientists believe that ancient humans may have used them for some other ability.

Have you ever seen a dog or a cat puff out their fur when they’re afraid or angry? Well that’s what this is! When an animal puffs out their hair or fur, most often it’s to insulate their bodies for warmth or to scare off other creatures. The arrector pili are a bunch of smooth muscle fibers attached to the hair follicles that allow them to do this.

So, it makes sense for animals. Well, if you’re hairy enough to do what a cat or dog does, then that’s another set of issues. Human beings have these muscles, and our bodies are able to contract them in order to make our hair stand on end. However, since we clearly don’t have enough hair on our bodies to form decent insulation, the arrector pili that we do have are basically useless.

Speaking of body hair, what exactly does it do? From an evolutionary standpoint, our ancestors had more hair than us in order to protect them from the elements and to stay warm. Additionally, scientists hypothesize that it may have helped protect from infections received from tactile contact. But today it merely serves for cosmetic use.