Unintelligent design (recurrent laryngeal nerve)

After investigating the left recurrent laryngeal nerve in more depth, I now wonder why we have singled out the left nerve. The right laryngeal nerve is also recurrent and also loops around an artery. There is nothing exceptional or odd about the left nerve. Infact the same arguments can be applied to both nerves although the recurrent nature is more pronounced in the left nerve than the right as the left is longer. These nerves are essential as vocal chords and for the act of swallowing.If we went along with some of the evolutionary commentators above and rearranged these nerves so that they connected directly I doubt very much whether we would be able to speak or make the rich variety of vocal sounds that we can. We might even have difficulty in swallowing the huge variety of objects and foods that we can. These nerves have to be long and they have to be stretched. Looping around the arteries enables this stretching to occur during the growth phase in a natural way. The differing lengths of the right and left nerves adds to the vocal range that these nerves can accommodate.The great designer has shown once again that his intellect is far superior to ours.

Evidence please? {ABE}: I mean for the fact that if they would be going there directly, that we wouldn't be able to swallow or talk like we do now.Can you provide evidence that this is not the case?

It was your assertion. It is incumbent upon you to provide the evidence. Put up or shut up.If I did or did not present any evidence what will you bring to the table? You have said nothing about your own assertions or opinions! I guess you don't want us to know what you are thinking? Are you hiding something or maybe you know I am right?

Thats ok...I have work to do anyway. I am a flying visitor and to be honest I can't be bothered. But your rebuttal indicates to me that you are evolutionists and no amount of evidence would suit you anyway.See...I can do nice quote boxes too....

You mentioned the Big J not me. Seems you're more religious than I thought.Nothing in reality can ever be proven one way or another. It's all down to personal opinion and belief. Thats why your appeals for evidence remain unanswered.

Your arguments seem to revolve around discrediting the contributor. I suggest you seriously review your own rules and guidelines.The reality is that you have not provided any convincing arguments to counter my claims. Whilst I accept that I could (on another day) have made more effort in furnishing you with the so called evidence that you are after, you must appreciate that I must protect my sources from the kind of abuse that I am getting now. Your actions have made me less likely (not more) to provide links or other data.The postings and replys have in effect led to a nil result as neither one of us has put up evidence to confirm or deny any of the claims. Readers can now go away and make up their own minds despite your hollow claims of victory.

I could quite easily provide some points of reference. Infact just 5-10 minutes on google can provide a whole bunch of links which correlate with my view on the matter. I shall'nt provide you with a link but I can give you a clue -bioinfo-. Google it yourself...lets see you do some work for a change.

Lets not get carried away here with anomalys and exceptions. The prevalence of the right nerve being non recurrent is only 0.6% and the prevalence of the left being non recurrent is much much rarer. Practically unheard of infact. As mentioned previously there is a medical article under bioinfo that correlates with my view point. Please check it out.

A medical fact that I should point out from the very site that I mentioned previously, namely bioinfo, states the following "We have found that small, benign, or otherwise asymptomatic lesions of the thyroid gland have a greater tendency to cause vocal cord paralysis in patients with nonrecurrent laryngeal nerves". Hence they are clearly at a disadvantage.

You can't expect me to just reiterate someone else's medical journal...that would be plagiarism!

Actually, my sources are wide and varied. This refers to just one specific article which highlights only one of my points. There are probably far too many sources for me to possibly provide links to all of them.

Ok...so we have two sources which completely contradict each other. I guess we have to agree to disagree in that case. Which was our stance right from the word go right?

Did you know that the vocal cords are always open when a person is not speaking? This makes breathing easier. Did you know that when a person speaks or sings the vocal cords vibrate. In order for something to vibrate there requires a degree of inbuilt tension. RLNs can provide that tension. A few minutes on google could have given you all this information.

This is precisely the reason that I will not be providing my sources. I can never be sure that your sources will not always be classed as 'good' research and my sources always be classed as 'bad' research. If you have issues with my comments raise them by all means....but lets not get third parties involved.

An article I just read on the Management of Paradoxical Vocal-Cord Dysfunction (PVCD) States the following;"As breathing becomes controlled, the athlete is encouraged to stand upright while maintaining diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is preferred to clavicular breathing due to the increased laryngeal tension promoted through clavicular breathing. "Tension within the laryngeal nerve is a key factor in how the vocal cords function.