(THE CONVERSATION) Most people know only two things about the appendix: You don’t need it – and if it bursts, you need surgery fast. That basic story traces back at least to Charles Darwin, the ...

The appendix may not be useless after all. The worm-shaped structure found near the junction of the small and large intestines evolved 32 times among mammals, according to a new study. The finding ...

MINNEAPOLIS — Stephen Colbert is away from late-night TV following emergency surgery last week — the comedian's appendix burst. That made us wonder: What does the appendix do for our body? And why are ...

In the United States, 1 in 15 people get appendicitis. Even though I was aware of this staggering statistic, I still never thought anything would happen to my sacred appendix… until it did. After a ...

If you were pressed to name body parts that you could do without, odds are good that the appendix would make what’s (hopefully) a short list. It’s a bit of a troublemaker, this testy tube of tissue ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Phil Starks, Tufts University and Lilia Goncharova, Tufts University (THE CONVERSATION ...