Your Appendix Could Save Your Life | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network:
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Duke Professor of Surgery, Bill Parker (via SciAm) |
You may have heard the appendix is vestigial, a relict of our past like the hind leg bones of a whale. Parker heard that too, he just disagrees. Parker thinks the appendix serves as a nature reserve for beneficial bacteria in our guts. When we get a severe gut infection such as cholera (which happened often during much of our history and happens often in many regions even today), the beneficial bacteria in our gut are depleted. The appendix allows them to be restored.
Find me the most encouraging, uplifting, inspiring article about Duke you can and I will still find a way to work in a dig at my least favorite basketball program.