Random choice of archived mag. I got to the article about the unexpected anatomical discovery of two hitherto undetected salivary glands and this raised questions. The human body is probably one of the most "mapped" anatomies there is. At least two millenia of medicine, observation, dissection and study all over the world. In the history of human biology and medicine, how many human bodies have been dissected in detail? Hundreds of thousands, at a low guess? And this set of glands is only discovered now in 2021?
Two questions. One(and I'm only speculating from a lay position here). For whatever reason, is this a recent evolutionary development, and they simply were not there a generation or two ago? (Again, if any passing evolutionary scientists want to say "this is bollocks, evolution doesn't work like that" then I won't take offence).
Two: could this be one of those things where most people do not have this, like for instance webbed fingers or toes, or the ability/extra muscle needed to make ears wiggle? How many people have been checked for this? The article says 100 people were checked and all had this: but do those people share genetic material? If not related, were they all from the same region of the Netherlands where there might be a shared genetic thing in the wider population which isn't replicated elsewhere? Have any similar studies been done worldwide?
Looks like a great issue, we've had a good run recently in my book!
