The colon is part of the digestive system. It helps the body absorb water and nutrients from food before excreting the waste. It is made up of muscle and located just below the stomach. People ...

WASHINGTON — 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 ...

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 ...

DURHAM, N.C. – The lowly appendix, long-regarded as a useless evolutionary artifact, won newfound respect two years ago when researchers at Duke University Medical Center proposed that it actually ...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to conventional wisdom, the appendix may not be useless after all. New research suggests that the structure helps beneficial bacteria survive and repopulate the ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Long denigrated as vestigial or useless, the appendix now appears to have a reason to be – as a “safe house” for the beneficial bacteria living in the human gut. Drawing upon a series ...

As humans have evolved, some anatomical parts with functional roles in the body have become unfunctional and are often referred to as vestigial organs or structures. Some are believed to be a ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. You may have heard that astronauts have their appendix removed before leaving Earth. After all, people say you can live without ...

Does the human body contain any truly useless parts? Arguably, yes — but they might not be the ones you assume. Some body parts, like the male nipple, arguably serve no useful function. But others, ...

When an appendix needs to be removed, patients who have minimally invasive surgery fare far better than those who have traditional operations, a review of several studies indicates. Patients who had ...