We are only three days into the New Year, and it’s already giving us more than the whole of 2016 ever did.
In fact, every human in the world has just gained a new organ.
Scientists have confirmed that humans actually have an extra organ that has been hiding in plain sight this whole time.
This perfectly explains why we’ve all put on weight in the last two weeks, it was nothing to do with all that cheese after all...
J Calvin Coffey, University of Limerick said: “In the paper, which has been peer reviewed and assessed, we are now saying we have an organ in the body which hasn’t been acknowledged as such to date.”
The organ in question, known as the mesentery, has been reclassified as a single, continuous organ rather than the series of fragmented, separate structures it was previously believed to be.
“The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect. This organ is far from fragmented and complex. It is simply one continuous structure,” Professor Coffey explained.
Located in our digestive system, the mesentery connects our intestine to our abdomen, and although the new evidence sheds light on its composition, functionality is still poorly understood.
“Now we have established anatomy and the structure. The next step is the function. If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease.”
Professor Coffey hopes that this reclassification could be the key to treatment of abdominal and digestive disease, meaning less invasive surgeries, fewer complications, faster patient recovery and lower costs overall.
One of the world’s best-known medical textbooks, Gray’s Anatomy, has now been updated to include the new discovery.