Think about all of man's accomplishments, from the greatest symphonies and works of art to the exploration of space to the feats of skill on athletic fields.
Then think about the most mundane of situations -- walking across the street to the local coffee barista, holding that cup of java in your hand, then sipping the coffee.
None of these things would be possible without the big toe.
Yes, the little piggy that went to market, the captain of the toes, as "Seinfeld" character George Costanza called it, is responsible for the advance of mankind beyond primitive creatures.
"Around six million years ago, we began to develop this large appendage at the end of our feet that enabled us to stand up," says Chip Walter, the author of "Thumbs, Toes and Tears -- And Other Traits That Make Us Human." " Every time you take a step, 40 percent of your weight is supported by your big toe. That means it would be very, very difficult to walk on these long stilts of articulated bone that we call legs if we didn't have that toe."
Walter, an adjunct professor of writing at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, and senior manager of strategic communications for UPMC, has worked as a science journalist, documentary filmmaker and bureau chief for CNN. His previous book, "I'm Working on That," was a collaboration with William Shatner about how the "Star Trek" series anticipated technological advances.
"Thumbs, Toes and Tears" was inspired by a documentary he was filming for PBS about the evolution of intelligence.
"You just kind of begin to look at the behavior of humans," Walter says, "and you see what they've accomplished and you go, 'How did we get so different?' We tend to take this stuff for granted because we're born this way. We tend to think it's normal, but it's not."
According to Walter, almost everything mankind has accomplished can be traced back to the evolution of the big toe. Because the toe enabled man to walk upright, it freed his hands -- which previously had been used as feet-like appendages -- to carry and make things. Sexuality, eye-to-eye contact and facial expressions evolved because humans were upright, as did elongated necks, which made speech possible.
Opposable thumbs also evolved, which enabled man to be able to make tools, which led to "a mind that could think in terms of a human being or a creature that's doing something and is separate from the world and could make things in sequence," Walter says.
" ... You have to put one thing into place before you put another thing into place. That is what language requires. And it turns out that our brain, if you look at the evolution of the human brain, the part of the brain that controls fine motor controls and hands, lays right next to the part of the brain that controls language."
Thus, it's not a coincidence that so many people cannot speak without moving their hands.
Walter also contends that humans are a combination of intellect and primal drives. A rub of the nose or scratch of the chin might be indications a person isn't telling the truth, but they also are unconscious actions that are intrinsic to human behavior. One of the points of the book, Walter says, is a combination of innovation and instinct is necessary for even the most astounding of human accomplishments.
"It took a lot of brains to be able to get from the Earth to the moon," he says, "but if we didn't have the politics and the fear of the Cold War, all that drive and personal ambition of the people involved and their curiosity -- which is primal -- we wouldn't have been able to do it. It doesn't take just brains, it takes heart and dreams, and those things find their roots in the primal parts of us."
The book also explores three aspects of human behavior that are specific to man. Laughing, crying and kissing might be taken for granted, but they are traits that make us who we are.
Laughing and crying, Walter says, are both rooted in "the hoots and calls you hear when you go into the monkey house at the zoo." Laughter, he says, is always a surprise, something involuntary; a good laugh cannot be planned, only provoked.
And crying? Crying is also an involuntary function.
"It comes from this deep, deep part of us," Walter says. "And what it does is express feelings of high emotion that are so complicated, words can't do the job."
While crying can be a matter of intense sadness or intense pride -- for instance, breaking down at seeing one's child accomplish something -- a kiss is borne solely from desire. But Walter thinks a kiss also is a form of communication in that it conveys an emotional attachment to the person receiving it.
What Walter found interesting is that 10 percent of the world's population -- 650 million people -- don't kiss. In Mongolia, people rub heads, and Eskimos rub noses.
"Kissing is something that still seems to be moving through the human race as a learned behavior," he says. "Maybe down the road, it will become more DNA-driven. But the one thing DNA gave us were lips and tongues, things that were originally for dealing with food, and which we later used for language, and then used for this other form of communication, which is kissing, which is so powerful. And that's one thing about humans: We're endlessly inventing tools, and you might call a kiss a powerful tool -- and a pleasurable one."
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