Our Sinuses are Upside Down

Another consequence of our own shift from quadruped to biped concerns the sinuses, which give such grief to many of us (including me at the moment of writing) because their drainage hole is in the very last place a sensible designer would have chosen. Williams quotes an Australian colleague, Professor Derek Denton:* 'The big maxillary sinuses or cavities are behind the cheeks on either side of the face. They have their drainage hole in their top, which is not much of an idea in terms of using gravity to assist drainage of fluid.' In a quadruped, the 'top' is not the top at all but the front, and the position of the drainage hole makes much more sense: the legacy of history, yet again, is written all over us.

Like back pains, its a product of our former quadrupedal nature.