Wellnews by Scott LaFee

If you're female and not built like a supermodel — that is, tall and skinny — don't despair, you may be the shape of things to come. Yale University researchers say they've detected the effects of natural selection among two generations of contemporary women. Their discovery: Descendants of these women will be slightly shorter and chubbier.

OK, that's more of a prediction than a discovery, but the scientists, who have published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, say it's based on an analysis of more than 2,000 women who have participated in the famous Framingham Heart Study, which began in 1948.

"The idea that natural selection has stopped operating in humans because we have gotten better at keeping people alive is just plain wrong," said Stephen Stearns, an evolutionary biologist and senior author of the study.

He said being shorter and stouter were traits that apparently confer greater reproductive success, and so get passed along to new generations more readily.

The scientists predicted a few other traits as well. Future females will have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They will enter menstruation a month earlier than their mothers and grandmothers, but delay menopause by a month. And they will give birth earlier in life.

OBSERVATION

It is not true that life is one damn thing after another. It is one damn thing over and over.

— Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

STORIES FOR THE WAITING ROOM

Chairman Mao, the late leader of the Chinese Communist Party (1893-1976), never took a bath or brushed his teeth, the latter because tigers never brushed their teeth either.

Rather than bathing, Mao preferred to have several young concubines rub his body down with hot towels.

PHOBIA OF THE WEEK

Clinophobia — fear of going to bed

BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

The small, pink protuberance at the inner corner of your eye is called a caruncula. This is where the yellowish crust forms during sleep, a mixture of tears, mucus, dust and pollen. The gunk has many slang names, but medically speaking, it's known as "rheum."

The stuff of rheum gathers in the eyes during the day as well as at night, but constant blinking effectively clears it away before it can accumulate into a noticeable mass.

MEDTRONICA

PE Central

pecentral.org

A comprehensive site on the subject of physical education, with components targeting teachers, parents and students. Hundreds of lesson plans are offered, as well as creative ideas for getting kids off the couch and active. There's a lot here to digest, but not so much that one will spend all day in front of the computer.

CURTAIN CALLS

Henry Flagler was one of the founders of Standard Oil. A millionaire, he built a mansion in Florida in 1913 that was equipped with fancy, futuristic doors that opened and closed automatically. One day, a closing door caught him from behind unawares, knocking him down a flight of stairs. He died from his injuries.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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