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 ...

MINNEAPOLIS — Stephen Colbert is away from late-night TV following emergency surgery last week — the comedian's appendix burst. That made us wonder: What does the appendix do for our body? And why are ...

For more than a century, the human appendix has been written off as a biological relic, a shrunken leftover from plant-eating ancestors that serves no real purpose. That view is now outdated. 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 ...

For years, the appendix carried a reputation as the body’s most pointless organ. Doctors often removed it without hesitation, and textbooks labeled it a vestigial structure—something our ancestors ...

It was the first day of spring break in 1992 in Phoenix, and 12-year-old Heather Smith was excited for her family's upcoming ski trip. But before Smith and her family had even packed their snow pants, ...

BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER. WELL, 20 YEARS AGO, APPENDIX CANCER WAS VIRTUALLY UNHEARD OF. BUT THIS WAS BECAUSE MANY OF THESE CANCERS WERE ACTUALLY MISDIAGNOSED. THE GENERAL SURGEONS IN THE PAST WERE ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Cancers in younger adults are surging. Colon cancer, once a midlife disease, is striking earlier than ever. Breast and kidney cancers are also climbing in people under 50. And now, ...

This small organ can cause big problems when inflammation sets in, potentially leading to life-threatening complications if left untreated. That nagging pain in your abdomen might be more than just a ...

Appendix cancer, also called appendiceal cancer, is when abnormal cells grow and form a tumor in the appendix. Your appendix is a little pouch-like organ attached to the lower right side of your large ...

You may have heard that astronauts have their appendix removed before leaving Earth. After all, people say you can live without this organ because it serves no purpose, but how much truth is there in ...