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Have you ever wondered what the point is to having an appendix? For years conventional wisdom has said that it has no purpose, that it's just there taking up space and for some people it becomes inflamed and has to be removed. Having forced a friend to go to the hospital where his appendix burst on the operating table and doctors said is he'd been 20 minutes later he's probably have died, I has always believed it was nothing more than a pain in the gut.

New research is now suggesting that it did have a purpose and that was to protect us from bad germs by creating and protecting good germs. Seems the appendix functioned like a computer system's reboot. If the bacteria in the intestines died  back when populations were sparse and people didn't come into contact with one another very often, the appendix rebooted the digestive system and acted like a good bacteria factory. 

So today, you don't need your appendix because you're in constant contact with people and you can repopulate easily enough with germs you pick up from them. Who knew other people's germs could be good for you.

Check out Science Daily for a more detailed description of the purpose of the appendix.