Most people get acquainted with their appendix when it's inflamed and about to rupture.

(MEDFORD, MA) 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 developed the theory of natural selection. In “The Descent of Man,” he described the appendix as a vestige: a leftover from plant-eating ancestors with larger digestive organs. For more than a century, that interpretation shaped both textbook and casual medical wisdom.

Originally published on theconversation.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.