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I Accept the Theory of Evolution

When you inhale through your nostrils, the flow of air branches into four pairs of large chambers tucked in the bones of your face… the nasal sinuses, which are cavities inside our heads. The air comes into contact with mucous membranes… wet and sticky tissue that catches dust and other particles, including bacteria and viruses, so that they don’t reach your lungs.

The mucous membranes produce a slow and steady flow of sticky mucus. This mucus is swept away by tiny, pulsating, hairlike structures called cilia. The mucus drains into several spots and is ultimately swallowed and sent to the stomach (where the acid destroys it).

Sometimes the system gets gummed up, and that can lead to a sinus infection. Bacteria can establish an infection that may spread throughout the sinuses and beyond. Mucus, normally thin and mostly clear, becomes thick, viscous, and dark green when you have an infection.

Have you ever noticed that dogs, cats, and other animals don’t seem to have head colds nearly as often as humans do? Most humans suffer between two and five head colds (also called upper respiratory infections) per year, and these are often accompanied by full-blown sinus infections. For dogs it’s different. Dogs can get sinus infections, which show up as a runny nose, but it’s rare for them. Most dogs will go their whole lives with no major episodes of infection in their nasal sinuses.
 
In fact, sinus infections are possible but rare in all non-human animals, although they are a little more common in other primates. Why is it so bad for us?

The reason is that our mucous drainage system is a mess. Specifically, the most important drainage-collection pipes are installed near the [i]top[/i] of the largest pair of cavities, the maxillary sinuses, located underneath the upper cheeks. Having the drainage-collection point high within these sinuses is a problem because of gravity. While the sinuses behind the forehead and around the eyes can drain downward, the largest and lowest two cavities must drain upward.

Because the mucous collection duct is located at the top of the chamber, gravity cannot help with drainage. This is the reason why sinus infections are so common in humans but unheard of in other animals.

This is why some people with colds and sinus infections can briefly find relief by lying down and tilting their head back. However, the relief is only temporary. Once a bacterial infection takes hold, drainage alone can no longer combat it, and the bacteria must be defeated by the immune system.

What kind of plumber would put a drainpipe anywhere but at the bottom of a basin?
Why is the drainage system at the top of the maxillary sinuses instead of below?

The evolutionary history of the human face holds the answer. As primates evolved from earlier mammals, the nasal features underwent a radical change in structure and function. In many mammals, smell is the single most important sense, and the structure of the entire snout optimises the sense of smell. This is why most mammals have elongated snouts... to accommodate huge air-filled cavities full of odour receptors. As our primate ancestors evolved, however, there was less reliance on smell and more reliance on vision, touch, and cognitive abilities. Accordingly, the snout regressed, and the nasal cavities were squashed into a more compact face.

Nowhere are there more differences between humans and nonhuman primates than in the facial bones and skull. Humans have much smaller brows, smaller dental ridges, and flatter, more compact faces. In addition, our sinus cavities are smaller and disconnected from one another, and the drainage ducts are much skinnier… a side effect of making room for our big brains.

This rearrangement produced a suboptimal result that has left us more susceptible to painful sinus infections than any other animal.
QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
Fascinating exploration of the sorts of details most people never get into, thank you.
newjaninev2 · 56-60, F
@QuixoticSoul Yes, it’s interesting, isn’t it, that humans are born at least a month before they should be born. A gestation period of just over 10 months would be ideal. The lungs are the last organs to develop, and are under-developed at birth even with full-term deliveries. Premature deliveries are almost invariably accompanied by concern about, and complications with, the lungs

Human produce a highly encephalised foetus, so delivery at nine months is necessary because otherwise the head wouldn’t fit through the birth canal. Despite evolutionary increases in human cranial size, there are evolutionary constraints on the female pelvis, resulting in the current sub-optimal situation.
QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
@newjaninev2 That’s right, to accommodate our other massively important survival advantage - efficiency of movement over flat ground. And all of this is only a problem to begin with, because we give birth through the pelvis, something that’s far easier for creatures with smaller brains, who do not walk upright. But in our case, a sane designer would have simply relocated the birth canal.

Funny thing is that I work with and design complex systems for a living, and when hippie recalls his job and says he sees an obvious designer at work here, I have to wonder how bad he was at that gig.

The only “designed” systems that even approximate this silliness are those that have been barnacled with patches and fixes over decades, to the point where the original vision is obscured and largely irrelevant. And that only happens due to our limitations anyhow. An omniscient creature would make a greenfield design that stands the test of time. An omnipotent creature would simply make a new one when needed.
JohnOinger · 41-45, M
@QuixoticSoul your one of my favorite users you and hippie Joe make me laugh lol
hippyjoe1955 · 61-69, M
Evolution relies entirely on mythology. It began back in the bronze age. It wes discredited then. It is being discredited now for lack of evidence or logic. Little things that mere bags of chemicals can not understand. Their chemicals won't let them. Blind people explaining darkness while everyone else sees light. Too Funny. Evolutionists sound like fundamentalist religionists (which they are) Peddling their quack nostrums. Out of nothing everything came for not reason at all. As nothing became something it made all kinds of rules for no reason at all. Then again for no reason at all it formed dinosaurs that later went on to become canaries and dogs that went on to be whales. Of course the evolutionists have evidence!!! Ah yes the evidence fossil records that show extinct species but nothing the shows evolution. Well then shared genetic material, the very thing you would expect if it had a common Designer but not what you would expect if life were to arise spontaneously since after all if chemicals can form life all by themselves they must have done it many many times and the genetic codes would be different every time a new life form was generated by said raw chemicals. Logic is not an evolutionist's friend. But what should be expected from bags of chemicals? Certainly not art or music or literature or science or.... Those are things not born of chemicals.
@hippyjoe1955 That’s your trademark. Using remarks that used to be insults but are now showing how unimaginative you are. Here’s one that fits your speed - “I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I’ll never know.”
@Harriet03 He’s great at ignoring and deflecting.
newjaninev2 · 56-60, F
@hippyjoe1955 So, you’re saying that I can’t explain how it it that I can’t explain the things I can’t explain because I can’t explain the things I can’t explain? Well, I can’t explain the things I can’t explain, and I can’t explain that, and I can’t explain those things, which are not the things I can’t explain, so the thing I can’t explain is that I can’t explain those things that I can’t explain.

In fact, the thing I can’t explain isn’t any of those things, and although I can’t explain what that is, which is inexplicable, it does involve not being able to explain.

Or even learn.

How can we explain that?
Brianthesnail · 56-60, M
I am glad I made the effort to read all that !
What kind of plumber would put the drainage pipe anywhere but at the bottom? Proof of the non-existence of god . , . . Or that he was a pretty clueless designer ;)
Bushranger · 70-79, M
As one who has ongoing sinus issues, I curse that first hominid that decided to leave the forest 😥.

Alternatively, I could curse Eve for listening to a talking serpent, but I find that just a bit too hard to believe.
SW-User
I don’t see why everything on this site needs to be a fight but this is an extremely insightful post
ISeeYou · M
Thank you for sharing this.
MartinTheFirst · 22-25, M
In the beginning there were no disease.
MartinTheFirst · 22-25, M
@newjaninev2 Trying to avert attention again from what really matters, even though you know what I mean. This is why any reasonable discussion with you fails.
newjaninev2 · 56-60, F
@MartinTheFirst Oh? And what is it that really matters?
newjaninev2 · 56-60, F
@ThePerfectUsername [quote]doesn't just increase the risk of further negative interactions[/quote]

Are you suggesting that people should just blindly agree with whatever he says, so as to avoid upsetting him?
Ozdharma · 61-69, M
very interesting ..... my turbinates grew abnormally and fully blocked all my sinus passages it was a very painful operation to fix it
newjaninev2 · 56-60, F
@Ozdharma ouch! Rather you than me! Did the reduction go smoothly?
Ozdharma · 61-69, M
@newjaninev2 yes but as soon as I went back to work got infected again
Groofydorkgerdo · 51-55, M
I wonder how many people eat their boogers.
Lostpoet · M
@Groofydorkgerdo That's a psycoligical form of Pica. You should talk to your therapist.
Groofydorkgerdo · 51-55, M
@Lostpoet EWWW BLEGH that shit is gross, diagusting. I would NEVER eat my boogers.
... ... ...
Other people's boogers are much tastier.
Thank you Dr. Science
I love my NetiPot -

 
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