For advocates and partakers of marijuana (medicinal or otherwise), the Twitterverse is apparently smoking-hot.

Researchers at Washington University analyzed every pot-related tweet sent during a one-month period in early 2014. Of the more than 7.6 million tweets that mentioned marijuana, 15 times as many were pro-pot than anti-pot. Most of the tweets were sent by people younger than 25, which the researchers found concerning because this demographic group is considered to be at greater risk of developing marijuana dependence and other drug-related problems.

"It's a concern because frequent marijuana use can affect brain structures and interfere with cognitive function, emotional development and academic performance," said study author Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg. "The younger people are when they begin using marijuana, the more likely they are to become dependent. A lot of young people will phase out of marijuana use as they get older, but unfortunately, we're not good at predicting who those individuals are."

Body of Knowledge

Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin per hour. That translates to about 1.5 pounds of skin a year, or 105 pounds by the time they are 70 years old. That means we get an entirely new outer layer of skin cells every 27 days, almost 1,000 new skins in an average lifetime.

Get Me That, Stat!

Americans spend $1.7 billion annually on teeth whitening products and services.

Stories for the Waiting Room

In parts of Asia, the adage "you are what you eat" is taken almost literally. Traditional Chinese medicine, for example, has recommended steeping snakes in rice wine for a boost in vitality and recommended adding strength by consuming a bear's paw.

More exotically, the consumption of a male tiger's dried penis (boiled in soup) is believed to imbue virility.

That entirely wrongheaded and false belief has not been good news for tigers, which continue to be poached despite an international trade ban on tiger parts since 1987. Today it's estimated that there are fewer than 3,200 tigers left in the wild, down from more than 100,000 a century ago.

Phobia of the Week

Gephyrophobia: fear of bridges.

Never Say Diet

The speed-eating record for Native American fry bread is 9.75 in eight minutes, held by Erik Denmark. Warning: Most of these records are held by professional eaters; the rest are held by people who really should find something better to do.

Observation

"Muscles come and go; flab lasts." — writer Bill Vaughan

Medical History

This week in 1840, Britain's Queen Victoria married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Victoria was a carrier of the hemophilia gene, from which the disease appeared among a number of the descendants from their nine children. The family tree would later provide a famous case history in genetics.

Last Words

"Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel." — George Appel, who was executed on an electric chair in 1928 for the murder of a police officer

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.