I am proud to say I still have my appendix - and since my 71st birthday was yesterday, I think I am probably going to hang on to it on a life long basis.

I remember how they used to casually whip out tonsils when I was a child, assuming (such hubris!) that nature had hiccuped and tonsils had no function to speak of in the human body.

Despite the debunking of the "useless tonsils" theory, the same attitude has prevailed for appendixes (I know - it should be appendices, but this is English as she is spoken).

Now, finally, the function of the appendix may have been discovered:

The Appendix Has a Purpose After All: Repopulating the Gut with Friendly Flora