5 Times Evolution Did Its Best

Usually when you think of evolution or natural selection, you think of survival of the fittest. But sometimes, the resulting traits of evolution aren’t the most efficient solutions to the problems at hand. With the bar set to “good enough,” here are some features that arose from evolution which get the job done in strange or roundabout ways. Hosted by: Rose Bear Don't Walk.

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[starpravesh]

"Evolution is not efficient, it's just sufficient"
Well said

[colleenorourke]

As a science teacher, I have been repeating "Evolution Has To Work With What it Has" and "It's Not About Survival of the Best, It's About Survival of the Good Enough" ad nauseam in my classes for about a decade and a half now, so to hear these phrases almost verbatim in a SciShow episode has got me like :D :D :D

[derekcouzens]

"Not efficient, just sufficient." If original, well done. If not, thank you for introducing it to me.

[thelordofhats]

Honorable mention to human sinuses draining from the top, instead of working *with* gravity. Which is why we get colds and stuffy noses and other animals basically never do.

[lordodysseus]

The spine was designed like a clothesline, but humans are using it like a flagpole.

[origamiandcats]

If you have billions of years and no firm deadlines, it's a successful automated process.

[Jay-hoio]

"Survive wall banging"

"Parkour their way up their body"

This is only the most cutting edge academic jargon and I'm SO here for it 🤣👍🏼♥️

[enhncr]

As an evolutionary biologist I have to say that this is made and explained very, very well. Good job!

[Darrin]

"C4 as the name suggests involves-"
Me: "EXPLOSIVES!"
"-a molecule with 4 carbons."
Me: D:

[MadDoofer]

Life : "Hey evolution, we could make some improvements here"
Evolution : "I'll get to it... Maybe... Sometimes...."
Life: "Maybe sometimes?"
Evolution : "Yup.... Eventually maybe sometimes..."

[Richard_Jones]

Breathing hole being pretty much the same as the eating hole? It'll do.

[bartzrt]

Glad to know that "if it compiles, ship it" has a rich history.

[xczechr]

It's not survival of the fittest, but rather survival of the not completely unviable.

[Toastmaster_]

I've been saying this stuff for years - evolution doesn't "decide" anything. Everything is just a series of accidental mutations that happened to be beneficial enough to keep a species going.

[torvamessorem]

As the famous Greek philosopher Mediocretes once said: "eh, good enough".

[solokalnesaltam]

Evolution, the quintessential C Student

[HowToBug]

As Todd Howard would say:
"It Just Works".

[SaltpeterTaffy]

I like to think RuBisCo stands for Rubidium-Bismuth-Carbon Monoxide.

Or Russian Biscuit Company.

[Thaumh]

*BOLD* *PRINT* *GIVETH* fine print taketh away. Yes cephalopods' eyes are more efficient (and make more sense) than vertebrates', but their esophagus goes directly through their brain.

[jcortese]

Evolution actually chooses "good enough" over perfect, I think. Perfection is inflexible. "Good enough" makes you more flexible. Whatever is perfect for the way things are now will die off when things change. So evolution not only allows the merely sufficient, it prefers it.