Does the appendix have a function in modern humans, are people without an appendix worse or better off?
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Yes, but not often needed in Western societies. It acts as a reservoir of ‘healthy’ bacteria when you get a gut infection that wipes out your gut flora. Now, it’s really useful for things like dysentery and cholera, but those are uncommon in Western society. Where it is useful is when a person takes antibiotics. That wipes out gut microbes, too. Then the appendix helps in recovery.
The answer is “maybe.”
The appendix used to be larger, and was used to help digest fibrous material from plants. Over time it has shrunk, and is now mainly useful as a reservoir for healthy gut bacteria, which is useful when recovering from intestinal ailments. Basically, if your gut flora get wiped out by an illness, they can be repopulated from the bacteria stored in the appendix.
Appendicitis can be life threatening, and being that the appendix is not strictly necessary for survival, it is removed when an infection is bad enough. People live without a gall bladder, they can also live without an appendix.
Yes it does. It was long though that the appendix was vestigial with no useful purpose, but in recent years, the medical science on that has changed. Now, medical science suggests that the appendix plays a role in the immune system of the gut and also functions as a reservoir of healthy gut bacteria. That said, obviously you can live without it, and if you have to have it removed, you’re probably not at much if any of a disadvantage, but it is an organ that serves a purpose.
Yes the appendix has a function, it stores bacterial cultures and can jump-start the gut from things that can wipe out the gut. It is partially vestigial as in you can survive and flourish without it
The spleen is similar. It can promote clotting factors in the blood, but the human body does well without it.
Yes- if you lock yourself out of your house, you can summon your appendix to arise from your innards and slide under your door to unlock it.
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