The Appendix—It’s Not a Leftover

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Now all this week we have been looking at body parts that are supposedly useless evolutionary leftovers. Well, no discussion would be complete without the appendix.

Darwin believed the appendix was a useless leftover. Now, many doctors would just cut it out of their patients and throw it away without much thought. But, eventually, researchers decided to study it. And, not surprisingly to creationists who reject evolutionary ideas, it has a function!

The appendix serves an important job as a “safe house” for good gut bacteria. That is important when bad bacteria try to out-compete them. Although we can live without it, the appendix is an important part of our immune system—it is not an evolutionary leftover.

Dig Deeper

• The Appendix: Useless Vestige or Evolutionary Innovation?
• The Human Vermiform Appendix