• Question: will humans ALWAYS have tonsils and appendixes?

    Asked by superkingtom to Aled, Ellie, Fiona, Kev, Willem on 18 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Kevin Arbuckle

      Kevin Arbuckle answered on 18 Mar 2014:


      As long as they provide some benefit (and that benefit outweighs any down-side to keeping them) then we will always have them. For example, the appendix has lost its original function as part of the digestive system (called the caecum), but it now functions as part of the immune system. It is a mistake to think that so-called ‘vestigial organs’ have no function – they might not have but often they just have a different function than originally.

    • Photo: Aled Roberts

      Aled Roberts answered on 19 Mar 2014:


      To add to kevin’s answer…

      To completely remove it there would need to be some kind of selective pressure going against it! And with the advancement in modern medicine there aren’t too many selective pressures! If your appendix bursts or your tonsils get infected, modern medicine can remove them where as in the olden days you might die (therefore in the olden days people with smaller appendices or tonsils, and thus less likely to burst/get infected, would have been beneficial). Modern medicine is actually taking away a lot of selection pressures which might have started changes occurring!

      Hope that adds something 🙂 Don’t forget to vote 🙂

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