The appendix, they said, is a safe haven where good bacteria could hang out until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhea, for example.

The appendix is not a useless evolutionary artefact, researchers claim. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center had proposed two years ago that it actually serves a critical function — a ...

Previously it was thought that the sack-like rabbit appendix served primarily as a reservoir for the bacteria involved in hindgut fermentation. That explanation, however, did not account for the ...

Ureteral replacement is rarely necessary in children, and various surgical procedures have been described for this purpose. One such procedure involves the use of the appendix as a ureteral ...

A sudden appendectomy as a child made Heather Smith curious about what the appendix is for and why it gets inflamed. Now as an anatomy researcher, she's finding answers.