Would it help if I got out and pushed?

The appendix is an example of a vestigial organ in humans. Such organs have no apparent function in one species, but are homologous to similar structures found in other species, indicating a common ancestry. They are considered to indicate a once functional organ that lost its use and can be used to explain an evolutionary development.

The appendix is found or better, is attached to the lower end of the ascending column of the large intestine, at an area called the cecum. This area is actually a pouch which contains bacteria that digest plant matter.

In herbivores the cecum is a large elongated structure. Not very surprising considering that their diet consists exclusively of plant matter. In carnivores this structure is extremely small. They however have no need for it, as their diet consists of protein. In onmivores the cecum is medium sized. They are able to digest some plant matter, however not very much.

Humans are omnivores and do have a cecum, though it is rather small. However there is the appendix, which is attached to cecum. It has no function as of today, but its location suggests that it was once part of the cecum, thus enlarging its surface area. As a larger cecum is used to digest plant matter, this suggests that modern human descended from a herbivorous ancestor. Over time a herbivorous diet became a disadvantage and humans adapted to an omnivorous diet, causing the appendix to loose its function and shrink in size.

Human beings have different, distinct eye colors: brown, green and blue. These colors are gentically inherited from the parents to the children. As with most genes some eye colors are dominant and others are recessive. The genes for blue eyes are recessive. The genes for green eyes and brown eyes are both dominant. However the genes for brown eyes color is dominant over those for green eyes. Thus the eye color which is expressed (the phenotype) is not a mixture of our parents’ eyecolor but it is a distinct eye color.

I have blue eyes and so do my father and my brother. My mother however has green eyes. So, how can this work?

Since the genes for blue eyes are recessive both my father and brother and I must have the genotype blue-blue (bb, since lower case letters indicate recessive genes). But what genotype can my mother possibly have? Since her eyes are green and green is a dominant eyecolor, she could have two possible genotypes green-green (GG, since upper case letters indicate dominant genes) or green-blue (Gb).

If my mother had the genotype green-green (GG), my genotype would be green-blue (Gb). This would mean that I would have green eyes. Since I don’t have green eyes, she must have the genotype green-blue (Gb).

According to a punnett square with the genotypes bb and Gb there is a 50% chance of both blue eyes and green eyes. My brother and me both having blue eyes was purely a matter of chance. (If I had green eyes determining my mother’s genotype would have been difficult, since then both the genotype Gb and GG would have been possible.)

So that’s what’s behind my blue eyes.

http://www.athro.com/evo/gen/inherit1.html (try the eye color genetics calculator)

Most obviously thoughts are what we think. They are also the way in which we humans process what we see, hear, feel, sense, taste and remember in relation to our surroundings and us as individuals.
Thoughts relate to biology in the sense that they are a type of nerve impulse, simply one we are conscious of having. Thus they belong into the field of neurobiology.
Generally the reading of thoughts is a concept that is associated with science fiction and fantasy. I have found however an experiment, which calls itself “mind reading”. It is conducted by the Free University of Berlin (Germany). A participant is presented with a series of pictures, which illustrate a series of events and is asked to memorize it. While an EEG (an elektroencephalography, the measuring of brainwaves) is conducted the participant is shown three other sequences. The measured brain activity indicates which sequence the participant knew.
Sadly this experiment only shows which sequence was memorized. It does not tell us the participant’s actual thoughts about the sequence. There’s good news however: Your thoughts are safe inside your head.

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