The colon is part of the digestive system. It helps the body absorb water and nutrients from food before excreting the waste. It is made up of muscle and located just below the stomach. People ...

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 That view is now outdated.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 ...

DURHAM, N.C. – The lowly appendix, long-regarded as a useless evolutionary artifact, won newfound respect two years ago when researchers at Duke University Medical Center proposed that it actually ...

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 ...

WASHINGTON — Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from ...

Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from surgeons and ...

It was the first day of spring break in 1992 in Phoenix, Ariz. 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 ...