Vestigial organs: Remnants of evolution

from http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826562.100-vestigial-organs-remnants-of-evolution.html?page=1

VESTIGIAL organs have long been a source of perplexity and irritation for doctors and of fascination for the rest of us. In 1893, a German anatomist named Robert Wiedersheim drew up a list of 86 human "vestiges", organs "formerly of greater physiological significance than at present". Over the years, the list grew, then shrank again. Today, no one can remember the score. It has even been suggested that the term is obsolete, useful only as a reflection of the anatomical knowledge of the day. In fact, these days many biologists are extremely wary of talking about vestigial organs at all.


This may be because the subject has become a battlefield for creationists and the intelligent design lobby, who argue that none of the items on Wiedersheim's original list are now considered vestigial, so there is no need to invoke evolution to explain how they lost their original functions. While they are right to question the status of some organs that were formerly considered vestiges, denying the concept altogether flies in the face of the biological facts. While most biologists prefer to steer clear of what they see as a political debate, Gerd Müller a theoretical biologist from the University of Vienna, Austria, is fighting a rearguard action to bring the concept back into the scientific arena. "Vestigiality is an important biological phenomenon," he says.

Vestigial Organs Seem Ripe for Transhumanist Tweaks, Wired Article

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/alttext/2007/11/alttext_1107

into the void....

Nine Inch Nails - Into The Void

Eric The Red | MySpace Video

Nine Inch Nails Into the Void from the Fragile (1999)

notes on vestigial structures.........

Vestigial structures are anatomical structures of organisms in a species which are considered to have lost much or all of their original function through evolution. These structures are typically in a degenerate, atrophied, or rudimentary form. Vestigial structures are often referred to as vestigial organs, though not all of them are actually organs....

Although the structures most commonly referred to as 'vestigial' tend to be largely or entirely functionless, a vestigial structure need not necessarily be without use or function for the organism. Vestigial structures have lost their original main purpose, but they may retain lesser functionalities, or develop entirely new ones.

Henry Moore, Drawings

Henry Moore, Study for Row of Sleepers, 1941

Henry Moore, Grey Tube Shelter, 1940

The Field: The quest for the secret force of the universe

from
http://twm.co.nz/McTag_field.htm#About

A bit like finding there is such a thing as The Force in Star Wars. The Field tells the story of respected frontier scientists all over the globe who have produced extraordinary evidence to show that an energy field -The Zero Point Field - connects everything in the universe, and we ourselves are part of this vast dynamic cobweb of energy exchange. 
The Field also reveals a radical new biological paradigm-that on our most fundamental level, the human mind and body are not distinct and separate from their environment, but a packet of pulsating energy constantly interacting with this vast energy sea. 

The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down- The Band

from The Last Waltz 1978