Every 'Useless' Body Part Explained From Head to Toe | WIRED

Dr. Jeffrey Laitman joins WIRED to break down every ‘useless’, vestigial organ and structure in our evolved human bodies. From the “wisdom” teeth and our simian tailbones down to muscles made less important by our double-arched feet, Dr. Laitman highlights where it came from—and how it ended up still inside of us.

Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Director of Photography: Francis Bernal
Editor: Louville Moore
Expert: Dr. Jeffrey Laitman
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas; Kameryn Hamilton
Production Manager: D. Eric Martinez
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Camera Operator: Rahil Ashruff
Sound Mixer: Gabe Quiroga
Production Assistant: Noah Bierbrier
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Paul Tael
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward


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[connormcclelland]

It's clear to me when watching this video that much of Dr. Laitman's explanations was cut for the sake of time, but I for one would not mind watching a full length version. His presentation is very entertaining and informative.

[eyeglassesstringmusic]

Dr. Laitman was my anatomy teacher in medical school!! The man is a legend who cares as deeply for his students as he does for the human body, always thought he deserved a bigger audience!

[aziouss]

If this guy was my biology teacher with his same amount of energy.
I would be a doctor by now.
MORE OF HIM PLEASE!

[llVIU]

the brain. Another organ that's never used in most people.

[yesbuh]

I was born with flat feet and ever since I can remember - about 5 years old or so - walking for periods of time over 20 minutes would hurt my feet badly, and running was a no go unless it was done in extremely short bursts. Even after walking you could feel the foot pain for a long period of time, even if you're sitting down. Eventually I underwent the Evan's Procedure, which adds bone graphs to create an arch in my foot. After both feet were operated on and about 2 years of total recovery, my feet are almost back to normal. Sometimes weird foot cramps occur, and running or walking up stairs for excessive periods of time can hurt. Nonetheless, I'm very thankful that such a surgery exists, and I am much more mobile.

Don't take your arch for granted!

[ThesaurceryUC]

This is not just a Dr. explaining this to us, but this gentleman is a natural born teacher, with the special nuances to draw the attention of his audience.

[Malkovith]

as someone with flat feet, i can confirm how exhausting and sometimes even painful it can be to just stand up for extended periods of time

[StephyShadows]

This doctor is amazing. His passion for medicine is shown through his delivery of the material. I’d watch a lecture by him any day of the week.

[LizbetPCB]

I have flat feet, and unfortunately passed it on to all four of my children. As far as we’ve been able to determine, no one else in my immediate family, or immediate ancestry, had or has flat feet. It’s very inconvenient and has resulted, so far, in my having three surgeries to one of my feet. All of my children have to use prescription orthoses. It never occurred to me to start trying to walk on all fours. If only I knew this before.

[tubetheyou]

What a great man. I can listen to him for ages. The last sentence he said really struck me - “the body is a culmination of our history”

[abctiktok]

As a flat footed person I remember growing up thinking how much I hated hiking and walking around all day. People use say I was so lazy because I got tired with my feet killing me. It was even worse growing up because I didn't have special shoes that cushion and people didn't know I had flat feet. Its funny because as an adults its very easy to find shoe design just for this particular issue.

[Jesse-riud]

I love the way he speaks! He is very clear and easy to understand and keep up with, even when I'm not fully paying attention I still got what he's saying. I like how he uses different pacing/emphasis to clarify his statements.

[tristankrieger]

As a Doctor, I’ve always found it a little unnerving how easily we label a body part as “useless”. It’s a very strong term that makes people believe it’s a fact when in reality, it may just mean “not enough research”. Imagine how many perfectly functioning appendix’s have been removed preemptively under the guise of it being a useless body part.

[yashsammeta]

The doctor explained it soo well. I've been trying to find a video on this topic, and this is by far the best as he explain's it in an understandable way without going into too much depth.

[ULTIMATEINUYASHAFAN]

I like this Doctor, he is the kind of knowledgeable person that has the knack for making probably complex portions of medical knowledge sound simple. Would live to see more of him! 😊

[Major_McScruffy]

Why edit out his explanations and not make a part 2??? Dr. Laitman is a really enthusiastic person and made this video compelling.

[gabrielklingele]

I have flat feet, and growing up I had to go to several doctors to understand the issue. My parents were more concerned than I was, and doctors said that somehow I adapted to the foot structure to walk more comfortably. The doctors said they could do a surgery, but they recommended I wait until it started to become a real hinderance in my life. I still don't feel I need the surgery, even after I ran cross country and track in high school. Still, I prefer swimming laps (I was on swim team) over running laps anyday.

[jasongoldman]

I have always found vestigial traits fascinating, this was a phenomenal video! Excellent job, I give it 10 out of 10 Goosebumps!

[mastodn]

Man there were multiple times in this video where I was intrigued and waiting for Dr. Jeffrey to expand on what he just said but then it abruptly cut to the next part.

[squirrel]

I just wanted to share a little fact! Humans and chimpanzees actually have comparable amounts of hair follicles, but the hair on our body is much more fine than compared to that of a chimp, and it makes us seem like we have "less hair". We do have less by volume, but perhaps not by individually counting them. Whether or not we have more or less hair than a chimpanzee really depends on how you ask the question.