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 English naturalist who ...

DEAR DOCTOR K: Why do doctors remove the appendix when someone has appendicitis? Don’t we need this organ? DEAR READER: Appendicitis is an inflammation of the appendix. This small, fingerlike tube ...

Many Americans grew up with the idea their appendix is an unnecessary organ, made obsolete by evolution. But in the last 20 years or so, scientists have come to believe the appendix serves a purpose, ...

Pity the poor appendix, a 2- to 4-inch-long wormlike pouch dangling from the head of the cecum, where the large and small intestines meet. For most of its medical history — anatomists have known about ...