We Will Not Have Appendixes in the Future: Difference between revisions

A note on the appendix itself: The appendix has historically been thought a useless, vestigial or even [[Ruptured Appendix|dangerously]] [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Appendicitis |self-destructive]] organ, but [[Science Marches On]] - it's still considered vestigial, but not necessarily useless. In the last few years scientists have begun to suspect that it is actually important to the body, as a reservoir of the "good bacteria" species that populate the colon and are necessary for digestion. When the colon's population is thrown out of whack by infection, diarrhea, or the like, the bacteria "hiding" in the appendix can recolonize it and return the necessary balance. There are also suggestions that this reservoir is used in training the immune system of babies and young children. It's still a lot easier to live without one than it is to live without any of your other organs, but it does seem to serve at least a non-vital purpose. This is what we would expected from evolution; if you have something useless hanging around, it can be repurposed. Moreover a smaller appendix might more easily become infected, putting up a barrier to it's fading away and selecting for a larger apendix.

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* In the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] spin-off novels, the companions Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester have no appendices. They're from the 30th Century.

* This trope was facetiously employed in ''[[Phil of the Future]]'' when Phil ran into a problem: he would have to be seen barefoot to stamp tomatoes in a farm on a class trip, but in his time, no one has pinky toes. To quote Phil's mother [[Sci -Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|"They won't lose their pinky toes for another 70 years."]] Ironically, pinky toes are actually used for balance.