This is seriously interesting yet unsettling at the same time that these are not being studied more. For whatever reason I have a feeling that they are going to be way more important someday since all creatures have them.
I was instantly reminded of the appendix, where for so long we thought it was just an extraneous evolutionary leftover of an organ, only to find out not all that long ago that it actually acts as a seed vault of sorts for our gut’s microbial biome to repopulate the good bacteria in case something bad happens and wipes them out.
Interesting. Makes me wonder if it might play a role in some physical illnesses we haven’t found a cause for yet, especially immune mediated ones.
Decent article going more in depth
This is seriously interesting yet unsettling at the same time that these are not being studied more. For whatever reason I have a feeling that they are going to be way more important someday since all creatures have them.
I mean that’s biology. We can do some pretty cool stuff, but we just don’t understand how so much in the human body works. It’s so fucking complex.
I was instantly reminded of the appendix, where for so long we thought it was just an extraneous evolutionary leftover of an organ, only to find out not all that long ago that it actually acts as a seed vault of sorts for our gut’s microbial biome to repopulate the good bacteria in case something bad happens and wipes them out.
Lead researcher has a youtube channel linked at the bottom of that article, too.