5 Ways the Human Body's Design Stinks

Chip Rowe doesn't think the human body was designed terribly well. He laments the "MacGyver"-style way our corporeal vessels came together over the years at Nautilus, claiming that "evolution constructed our bodies with the biological equivalent of duct tape and lumber scraps." Rowe interviewed biologists and anatomists to flesh out some of the worst-designed body parts:

• Voice box: Having a windpipe and esophagus—the tube our food goes down—both empty out into the same spot has proven to be a major fail.
• Teeth: There used to be plenty of room for all of the molars, but then our brains got much bigger. Now our wisdom teeth are pretty much useless, except for causing us pain.
• Knees: Ever get hit on your knee from the side? If you have, you know it just doesn't bend that way (it only moves forward and back). That's a problem.
• Pelvis: Women have been enduring the birthing process for eons—and yet the width of the pelvis hasn't evolved in 200,000 years, Rowe says.
• Testicles: There's really no delicate way to say this: Someone messed up by letting these sperm storage units that are responsible for keeping the human race going hang loose "out in the cold," as Rowe puts it.

Check out the complete Nautilus list of Rowe's anatomical issues (and the creative ways he suggests we could fix them all).