A Scientist Tried to Design the Perfect Human Body and the Result Stopped People Cold

Trying to picture the perfect human body sounds harmless at first. A little curiosity. A little science. Maybe even optimism. It feels like the kind of question people ask late at night or in passing, the sort that sparks debate but not discomfort.

But the moment you actually try to define perfection, things get uncomfortable fast. The idea stops being abstract and starts forcing choices. What stays. What goes. What counts as a flaw, and who gets to decide?

We live in a time where body positivity is discussed constantly and often contentiously. Social feeds are filled with reminders that beauty is subjective, that bodies are varied, that perfection is a trap designed to keep people dissatisfied.

Even so, the question never fully disappears. It lingers quietly beneath the messaging. If nature had unlimited time and freedom, what would the human body eventually become? Would evolution smooth out our weaknesses or strip away the things we quietly value most?

That question sat at the heart of a BBC experiment led by anatomist Alice Roberts. Rather than relying on fashion ideals or cultural preferences, she turned to evolution itself. The logic was straightforward and almost disarming. Look at animals that see better.

Animals that run faster. Animals that protect their young more efficiently. Strip away human limitations. Borrow the strongest traits from across the animal kingdom. Assemble a body designed for survival, efficiency, and biological success. Build a form that works better than ours ever could.

On paper, it sounded logical. Almost elegant. A scientist’s puzzle is built from data, anatomy, and adaptation. There was no vanity in the premise, no pursuit of beauty as humans define it. Just function.

On screen, though, it became something else entirely...

Trying to imagine the perfect body is a minefield.

Celebrating body shapes of all forms and sizes should be the norm but just ask the many body positive activists on Instagram how difficult that is.

With that in mind, the anatomist Alice Roberts attempted to construct the perfect human body based on research into animal evolution.

The idea was to create a body that was void of any human imperfections and include all the perfect elements that animals possess.

As you can imagine, this created something of a Frankenstein's Monster, as rather than looking like a standard human being, it came complete with several and noticeably odd features from the animal kingdom.

These included large eyes, ears, the lower back of a chimpanzee, the legs of an emu, a chest without breasts, the heart of a dog and a marsupial pouch.

On paper that sounds horrifying but in reality, it was much worse. The final result was unveiled on the BBC Four show Can Science Make Me Perfect? and you can see the reveal below.

Yeah, we're not entirely sure about this. The child's head poking out of the stomach is a bit much and we can't see it catching on.

At least the hands are still the same, meaning that we needn't fear ever being separated from our smartphone, no matter how much we evolve.

Even Roberts herself was horrified with the result, saying:

"Oh no, I can’t look at her...The baby’s the weirdest thing. That is the weirdest thing, but it's very, very cute at the same time."

In trying to design a flawless body, the experiment revealed something more unsettling than any odd anatomy. Perfection without humanity feels wrong. Evolution may optimize function, but meaning, comfort, and connection live somewhere else entirely.

The reaction to this body was not just about shock. It was about recognition. Our imperfections are part of what makes us human, not problems waiting to be fixed.

If this image made you uncomfortable, you are not alone. If it made you think, even better. Share this story and see how others react to the idea of perfection when science takes it literally!