Appendix: Fill & Download for Free

Nope! Still have mine (at least as far as I know)! Where do you guys find this kind of stuff?Keep lookin’ up!

Humans do!Look no further than the Appendix.Image: WebMDIt doesn’t seem to do anything useful, and sometimes it even decides to burst for no reason and send you to hospital.Those who have their appendix removed suffer no ill effects (assuming no complications during surgery).We don’t even know what the point of it is/was:One theory is that the appendix acts as a storehouse for good bacteria, “rebooting” the digestive system after diarrheal illnesses. Other experts believe the appendix is just a useless remnant from our evolutionary past.The Appendix (Human Anatomy): Appendix Picture, Definition, Function, Conditions, Tests, and TreatmentsEdit- seems some new studies suggest there is a purpose to the appendix as some of you have pointed out: The vermiform appendix: not a useless organ.I still don’t rate it though, it’s my least favourite organ. 3/10, would not recommend to a friend.

I actually brought this up with a doctor once. He looked at me thoughtfully, and said that in his opinion, the function of the appendix was to keep itself from getting infected.I would add that it fails in this function, relatively often—almost 9% of all men and 7% of all women will get appendicitis at some point in their lifetimes, at least in the US. (Source: The epidemiology of appendicitis and appendectomy in the United States.) As Romer and Parsons said in their textbook The Vertebrate Body: “Its major importance would appear to be financial support of the surgical profession.”Here’s the thing: All of the digestive tract has lymph nodes and patches of lymphoid tissue, all along its length. It’s called the Gut-associated lymphoid tissue, or GALT. Its function is pretty clear: You have billions of bacteria living in your gut, they assist with food digestion among other things, you have to have them to stay healthy—but if they get out of your gut and infect your peritoneum, you die horribly. The GALT is basically the barbed wire and guard towers keeping your gut bacteria from getting out of your gut, and keeping their populations under control.The appendix is not “part of your immune system”; it’s part of your large intestine. It does contain lots of GALT—but there’s nothing special about that. The appendix GALT doesn’t do anything that the GALT elsewhere in your intestines can’t do. It doesn’t have a specialized role in your immune system that would be lost if it weren’t there.What’s more, the appendix doesn’t function in human digestion. In animals that eat a lot of tough plant matter, the appendix equivalent is very long and spacious, and functions as a fermentation chamber where bacteria can break down plant food. That doesn’t happen in humans. We don’t eat mature grasses or eucalyptus leaves, and we don’t ferment them in our appendices. In fact, something like 1 in 100,000 people are born without an appendix—and most never even know it unless they have to have surgery for some other condition. You yourself, oh asker of this question, might not have an appendix at all, and you’d have no way of knowing unless some surgeon has gone looking for it.(Source: Vestigiality of the human appendix, which has a lot of additional sources and documentation)Imagine a divine Designer saying, “I’m going to put an organ in the human body. Its function will be to keep itself from getting infected. It will fail at its function in roughly eight people out of every 100. For most of human history, most of these people—most commonly children, teens and young adults—will die a lingering and agonizing death. Humans will eventually invent surgery with anaesthesia and aseptic technique, but only after millions of people have died painfully from peritonitis.” Would you consider such a Designer to be good at his job?Let me put it this way: Would you buy a car that had a part that: did nothing but protect itself from damage; exploded at some time during the service life of eight out of every hundred cars sold; and required a whole team of highly trained mechanics and tens of thousands of dollars to remove, after which the car would run just as well as ever before?If you would, then call me, because I have a minivan to sell you. . . .