New Scientist ran a competition for a human make-over.
FORGET intelligent design - we suffer from damn stupid design, as many readers noted in response to our seasonal competition, which asked how you would modify the human body if you were not restricted in any way. As Stephan Peters puts it: "The human body is crammed full of messy plumbing, circuitry, scaffolding, dodgy components and building materials, and is riddled with workarounds to compensate for poor initial design as a result."
Readers who have recently given birth are, understandably, keen on a major redesign. Pouch envy is clearly rife, with genetically acquisitive eyes cast in the direction of the marsupials' tiny offspring and the comfortable, capacious pockets in which to nurture them. Dozens of those whose offspring are now crawling and walking, meanwhile, plead for extra arms or, in several of the more detailed submissions, for the ability to grow and resorb limbs on demand.