For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine without them.Now, surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut.
1 comment(s):
Interesting, but it begs the question, have we evolved an appendix which is specialised to be used to protect good bacteria? Our early ancestors plainly use it for aiding digestion of fibrous matter. Is it really evolved to protect gut flora or are they slumming in our abandoned appendices?
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