Purpose of Appendix Believed Found

CambodiaSam sent in this story, which opens: "Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week. For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine without them. The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most are good and help digest food. But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case."

Comments

Re:another body part that is often yanked

[JewGold]

Good point, but why stop there? Cutting off the penis entirely completely eliminates the risk of all STDs. Why not do that? Also, sewing the mouth shut, removing digestive organs, and forcing your child to live off an IV drip eliminates obesity and complications from it including diabetes.

Or you could not mutilate your child, teach him to use condoms, and eat properly.

Re:Brace yourselves people, creationist onslaught

[Pooua]

Neodawinism suggest vestigal organs may exist in an organism.

I'm old enough to remember when evolutionists had no doubt that evolutionary theory predicts the existence of vestigial organs. It is the natural consequence of biological change. That was also back when the definition of a vestigial organ was "an organ that has atrophied due to disuse." This was the definition that Darwin used (as he believed that use or disuse of an organ was hereditable... another historical fact about Darwin that is sometimes denied by modern evolutionists). The appendix was cited as evidence for our biological evolution.

It doesn't suggest if we don't know the function of an organ, it's vestigal.

Historically, if evolutionists have not immediately recognized a use for an organ (or anything else, for that matter), they have placed it in the "vestigial" category (or "useless"). In Darwin's day, evolutionists identified, IIRC, 183 "vestigial" organs, based on the definition that these organs no longer had a function and were just hanging around until they dropped off. That number shrank considerably until the modern era, until the term "vestigial" was redefined to mean "an organ whose current function is reduced, compared to its use in our (presumed) evolutionary ancestors." Meaning, that if an evolutionist were to believe that we evolved from hawks, our eyes would be considered vestigial, because we don't see as well as a hawk; or, if the evolutionist believes we evolved from some creature with lesser vision than ours, then our eyes are not vestigial. Suddenly, whether an organ is vestigial or not depends not strictly on the organ, but on the evolutionary model.

Plus, this study in fact says this organ played a role before, and in modern society it has no function.

And it is incorrect. Creation Scientists demonstrated in studies and experiments a decade ago that the appendix aids in immunity and radiation resistance. Furthermore, populations without an appendix have higher rates of cancer than those who retain their appendix.

Some people are born *without* appendix and live to pass this onto their kids, since appendix is no longer needed organ.

Some people are born *without* arms and live to have children, so arms obviously are no longer needed, either.

Silly evolutionist! Just because people can live to produce offspring with the same trait does not mean that the organ is useless, unhelpful or vestigial!

That's evolution right before your eyes.

Bunkum. Evolutionary theory only succeeds through the use of semantics, not from facts of nature. The definition of "vestigial" is just one example.