In medical science, there's something called the "obstetrical dilemma hypothesis," which basically suggests that a woman's pelvis changes shape over her life to adapt to different needs.

A young girl's pelvis looks much like a similarly aged boy up to about age 10. It's narrow for enable efficient walking. Then it begins widen in preparation for childbearing. By age 40, however, the female pelvis is beginning to narrow again and look more like a man's.

Body of Knowledge

The adrenal glands, which produce and release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, reside directly above the kidneys and change in size throughout life. In the seventh month of a fetus' development, the glands are roughly the same size as the kidneys. At birth, they have shrunk slightly, a reduction in size that will progress for the rest of the person's life.

By old age, the glands are often so small as to be almost invisible.

Get Me That, Stat!

The pharmaceutical company Gilead recently reported disappointing earnings on sales of its blockbuster hepatitis C drugs, Harvoni and Sovaldi. Revenue was down due to discounts and rebates on the pricey drugs. (A 12-week course of Harvoni costs almost $100,000; $84,000 for Sovaldi.) Still, Gilead reported first quarter earnings of $4.3 billion, down $600,000 from previous quarter.

Life in Big Macs

One hour of planting trees burns 306 calories (based on a 150-pound person) or the equivalent of 0.4 Big Macs.

Counts

62,254: Cases of U.S. children younger than 6 who were treated by doctors in 2013 and 2014 for adverse effects due to laundry and dishwasher detergents. Most problematic were detergent packets, which were frequently swallowed

Source: Gary Smith, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH

Stories for the Waiting Room

In a 2011 published study, researchers found that test subjects given a third, prosthetic arm (to simulate the belief that they had three appendages) experienced sensations of fear when the fake arm was threatened with a knife. The research was conducted to explore the brain's ability to adopt non-human objects as part of the body.

Doc Talk

Stick out your tongue. Those bumps you're looking at aren't taste buds. At least they're not individual taste buds. Rather, the bumps represent 50 to 100 buds bundled together into "fungiform papillae," Latin for "mushroom-shaped nipples."

Phobia of the week

Gamophobia: fear of marriage or commitment

Never Say Diet

The Major League Eating record for whole turkey is 9.35 pounds in 10 minutes, held by Joey Chestnut. There is no truth to reports that his vanquished competitors gave him the bird.

Best Medicine

Two travelers were comparing notes.

Traveler #1: I visited the Amazonian rainforest this past summer. Before leaving, I asked my doctor how I could avoid getting any diseases from biting insects.

Traveler #2: What did he advise?

Traveler #1: He told me not to bite any.

Observation

"I intend to live forever. So far, so good." — American comedian Steven Wright (1955-so far, so good)

Medical History

This week in 1962, a 12-year-old boy's arm (severed just below the shoulder by a train wheel) was reattached by Massachusetts General Hospital surgeons in the world's first successful replantation of a human limb using microvascular repair. With additional operations, the boy regained functional use of the arm and hand and became a garage mechanic.

Sum Body

It's estimated that most people dream four to six times per night, from a few minutes to half an hour over the course of night, shorter in the beginning of slumber, longer later on. Up to 99 percent of the dreams are immediately forgotten upon waking, but here's a short list of what dream researchers say are the most common dream themes:

—Being chased or attacked or, conversely, being in love or embraced

—Being injured (having your teeth fall out is particularly common)

—Feeling reborn or healed

—Having car trouble

—Losing something, whether a ring or a house burned down in a fire

Self-Exam

Q: How much time does it take for your body to produce enough new cells to equal the population of the United States?

A: The U.S. population is almost 320 million. It takes your body 13 seconds to produce that many new cells. The vast majority are red blood cells.

Curtain Calls

In 1977, Formula One racecar driver Tom Price was killed at the South African Grand Prix when he was struck in the head by a track marshal's fire extinguisher. Track marshal Frederik Jansen van Vuuren was running across the racetrack to douse flames from a burning car (one of Price's teammates) when Price's speeding vehicle fatally struck him, the extinguisher sent flying.

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.

Photo credit: Eric Kilby