This shatters our hope to be perfect
Do you complain that your body is inappropriately shaped? Feel like you have some parts that should have been larger, and some shorter or of different shapes?
You are instinctively right.
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| Photo by Merlin Lightpainting: |
Nature has failed us.
Evolution works in a way to adapt the living being to the best outcomes — defense, reproduction, food, and movement. Natural selection evolved us into this shape and function.
It created man as a fragile creature that cannot even deal with a mouse when faced one-on-one. The body requires intelligent reconstruction to function better.
All that is awaited is someone to have the inspiration to fix it.
Gladly, anatomist and author Alice Roberts had this enlightenment. She began to re-shape the human body as per the biological needs and perfection.
It begins with —
The ears
| Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash |
People hold their ears as a gesture of apology. Have they forgotten the real function of the ears is to hear?
The best ears in the kingdom are attached to the heads of felines, like cats and leopards. A cat’s ears will ricochet on pin-drop noise while a sleepy dude doesn’t move until the bomb goes off.
Alice suggested gluing the primordial feline ears to gain the best hearing.
Eyes
My cousin had to wear glasses at 12 years of age to see a few feet away. Our eyes are useless in dark, sensitive to bright light, and have a blind spot right in their focus. We wonder about the eagle which zooms into its prey from a kilometer’s height.
| Photo by Oleksandr Sushko on Unsplash |
Alice opted for the eyes of an Octopus which has better clarity, no blind spots, and the ability to see underwater. A bird’s eye would be better off, but there are a few issues. A bird’s eye is fixed to its head by a set of muscles and the entire head has to move to see around, instead of rolling eyes like humans.
A pouch
| Photo by Matt Chen on Unsplash |
That sounds interesting. The birth of a large-headed baby is a nightmare for a mother. An upright standing human pelvis is too small for a big-head unborn to pass through. Instead, humans could give birth to much younger babies and protect them in the pouch.
This feature is inspired by the marsupials that nurture the newborns by holding them on their pouches.
Perhaps, this pouch can also serve to carry a bottle of champagne at times but that will look odd.
The Legs
| Photo by Lucrezia Carnelos on Unsplash |
Biologically muscular thighs and a leaner lower leg are the best for running and walking. A sturdy leg with a bony calf and bulky thigh is inspired by the ostrich for the best efficiency.
Perhaps, Alice has an idea of how strong is an ostrich’s kick.
Musculature and backbone
| Photo by Alan Calvert on Unsplash |
Kevin Hunt of Indiana University admits that if a chimpanzee’s body is shaved from neck to waist, its shape is barely distinguished from a human. Both have similar musculature. Still, a chimp is three times stronger than a human.
The human backbone is extremely long, and S-shaped, a feature to absorb shock and keep an upright balance. Yet, a shorter spine is more desirable for stability and strength. Alice considered eliminating a few lumbar vertebrae to meet this goal.
Now if the spine becomes shorter, man has to give up boxing. A normal person cannot survive a blow three times harder than a Mike Tyson left hook.
Anatomist Roberts also squeezed an ideal heart from guinea pigs, lungs from birds, and a breast-less chest in the model. To keep from UV damage, amphibian skin is suggested, which gathers melanin rapidly in presence of UV.
The parts modified for the perfection of the human body were modeled and then glued together. Biologists and prosthetic sculptors made it possible and even named it Alice 2.0.
It was on display until December 2018 as the “Who am I?” exhibit at Science Museum.
Here is the picture of the perfect human
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| Image: Screenshot/ The Perfect Human Body according to Alice Roberts, via BBC Four |
Yet another one.
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| Image: Screenshot/ The Perfect Human Body according to Alice Roberts, via BBC Four |
The images flooded across social platforms and Twitter made a day out of it.
The most interesting part is — Even Prof. Alice Roberts screamed when she first saw the sculpture model.
Twitter in the end decided to stick with Alice 1.0 after nearly dying of humor.
Finally, we could know that perfection still has a lot of imperfection. With ourselves, we should accept, live and nourish our imperfections to the extent that nothing else can be perceived as truly perfect.
