what do the appendix do?

Answer 1

it does nothing. absolutely nothing!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

The old make fun of the appendix- citing that its only use is for the financial gain of a surgeon. The young want to research on what it used to be, before it became vestigial. Here is a newer comprehensive theory from Sept 2006
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Recent findings have shown that pluripotent stem cells exist in areas outside the bone marrow (BM). Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the appendix is important for the development of mucosal gut immunity, and hematopoietic progenitors have been isolated from animal and human appendices.
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August 2006
"For years, the appendix was credited with very little physiological function. We now know, however, that the appendix serves an important role in the fetus and in young adults. Endocrine cells appear in the appendix of the human fetus at around the 11th week of development. These endocrine cells of the fetal appendix have been shown to produce various biogenic amines and peptide hormones, compounds that assist with various biological control (homeostatic) mechanisms. There had been little prior evidence of this or any other role of the appendix in animal research, because the appendix does not exist in domestic mammals.

"Among adult humans, the appendix is now thought to be involved primarily in immune functions. Lymphoid tissue begins to accumulate in the appendix shortly after birth and reaches a peak between the second and third decades of life, decreasing rapidly thereafter and practically disappearing after the age of 60. During the early years of development, however, the appendix has been shown to function as a lymphoid organ, assisting with the maturation of B lymphocytes (one variety of white blood cell) and in the production of the class of antibodies known as immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies. Researchers have also shown that the appendix is involved in the production of molecules that help to direct the movement of lymphocytes to various other locations in the body.

Answer 3

Currently, the function of the appendix, if any, remains controversial in the field of human physiology.

There have been cases of people who have been found, usually on laparoscopy or laparotomy, to have a congenital absence of their appendix. There have been no reports of impaired immune or gastrointestinal function in these people.

One explanation has been that the appendix is a vestigial structure with no current purpose.[citation needed] The appendix is thought to have descended from an organ in our distant herbivorous ancestors called the cecum (or caecum). The cecum is maintained in modern herbivores, where it houses the bacteria that digest cellulose, a chemically tough carbohydrate that these animals could not otherwise utilize. The human appendix contains no significant number of these bacteria, and cellulose is indigestible to us. It seems likely that the appendix lost this function before our ancestors became recognizably hum

Answer 4

The appendix doesn't really DO anything, it just hangs out at the end of the cecum of the large intestine (the colon). It does have the tendency to get inflamed, infected or rupture and need to be removed. People live without it just fine, it has no function on digestion of foods or waste.

Answer 5

Nothing really it's obsolete at one stage in are development we ate wood and the appendix was needed to help digest it.