James Walton

Unintelligent design

Plus: BBC4 shows us how we might, in the future, improve our bodies by acquiring emu legs and kangaroo pouches – though our chances of getting a date might become slim

On Wednesday, BBC Four made an unexpectedly strong case that the human body is a bit rubbish. Our ill-designed spines, for example, guarantee that many of us will suffer from chronic back pain. Our joints wear out long before we do. Our skin even gets damaged by sunlight.

So what can be done about it? Obviously the answer is not much — but that didn’t prevent Can Science Make Me Perfect? With Alice Roberts from pretending to give it a go.

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