• Question: what is the appendix

    Asked by 653smap49 to Sheila, Piyush, Natalia, Gary, Dimitar on 7 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Gary Munnelly

      Gary Munnelly answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      The appendix is a small, tube-like organ near the end of our colon. As far as I am aware, the popular medical consensus is that it is an old organ which we don’t really need anymore. It used to help us to break down vegetation like grass when that was part of our diet. I could be wrong about that last part, but what we do know is that humans can function perfectly normally without it. So it is perfectly safe to remove the appendix if it becomes inflamed due to a condition such as appendicitis.

    • Photo: Dimitar Shterionov

      Dimitar Shterionov answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      I agree with Gary. Just to add something extra – having an organ such as the appendix which was used by our ancestors but then many many generations later has no particular function is an evidence of evolution.

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