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AMERICANALMANAC (Ken Jacobs) - Six leftover body parts modern humans can live without Mon Oct 5 20:06:39 2026

Modern humans still carry six leftover body parts that can spark pain, infection, and millions of surgeries a year, and most people get along fine without them. The human body still packs structures that helped distant ancestors chew tough plants, climb, and fight off germs in a very different world. Today those same parts often […] The post Six leftover body parts modern humans can live without appeared first on American Almanac .

Modern humans still carry six leftover body parts that can spark pain, infection, and millions of surgeries a year, and most people get along fine without them. The human body still packs structures that helped distant ancestors chew tough plants, climb, and fight off germs in a very different world. Today those same parts often mean sudden pain, blocked airways, or emergency surgery, and a large share of people never develop some of them at all. A New York Post feature walks through six of the most common candidates and the scale of the operations that remove them. Americans already live healthy lives after these structures come out. The numbers make the point without a lecture. Appendix removals near 300,000 a year The appendix is a small tube at the end of the large intestine, sitting in the lower right midsection. When it becomes infected or inflamed, the result is appendicitis: sudden pain, nausea, constipation, and bloating. If it ruptures, infection can spread and turn life-threatening. About 300,000 appendix removal surgeries are performed each year in the United States. People routinely return to normal, healthy lives without it. For a long time scientists treated the appendix as a leftover with no real job, a view tied to Charles Darwin and ancestors who ate mostly plants. In recent years, reporting notes emerging evidence that the appendix holds many immune cells and beneficial bacteria. The older “useless” label and the newer immune role sit side by side in the same account. Either way, removal remains common when infection hits. Gallbladder surgery tops 1.2 million procedures The gallbladder sits below the liver in the upper right abdomen. It stores and concentrates bile the liver makes to break down fats. Gallstones, “gallbladder attacks,” or infection often lead to removal. More than 1.2 million gallbladder removals are done each year in the United States. After the organ is gone, bile simply drips in a steady stream from the liver into the small intestine. Digestion continues without the storage pouch. Tonsil operations exceed half a million Tonsils are two masses at the back of the throat that act like lymph nodes, filtering germs from the nose and mouth. They can stay chronically swollen or infected, or block the airway during sleep and drive snoring and disrupted rest. Those problems hit children especially hard. More than half a million tonsil removals are performed in the United States every year. The same reporting states that the body can still fight infection without them. Wisdom teeth still crowd modern jaws Wisdom teeth may come in at the very back of the mouth around ages 17 to 25. Crowding, impaction, decay, and pain are familiar reasons they come out. Around 5 million people get wisdom teeth removed each year if the teeth appear at all. About 20% of people never develop them. The feature frames the third molars as remnants from a time of tougher, uncooked diets and larger ancestral jaws that had room modern mouths often lack. Forearm and calf leftovers many people never grow The palmaris longus runs from the inner forearm into the palm and plays a role in certain wrist-flexion tasks. As much as 25% of people are born without it. Some lack it on one side only; others have more than one. The muscle is described as a holdover from climbing and swinging. Its absence is said not to reduce strength. The plantaris is a thin muscle at the back of the lower leg. An estimated 7% to 16% of people are born without it. A tear, often called “tennis leg” and frequently paired with a larger calf-muscle tear, can bring sharp pain and a popping sensation. Most experts have long treated the plantaris as basically useless; others suggest roles in balance, posture, and movement. Both views appear in the same account. Taken together, the six structures show a simple pattern. Some trigger high-volume surgery when they fail. Others never form in a sizable share of the population. In every case, daily life continues after they are gone or never arrive. Evolution left spare parts in the kit. Common sense and modern surgery already prove most people do not need them to work, walk, or live well. The post Six leftover body parts modern humans can live without appeared first on American Almanac .