Raising a kid is literally a messy business, with all of the dribble to be wiped, slobbery feedings and sharing of licked utensils, not to mention those wet kisses. Researchers call it "saliva sharing," and a new study reports it helps newborns and infants distinguish "thick" relationships from those less important, helping them build stronger attachments and senses of obligation with those whose drool is cool.

Body of Knowledge

The human skeleton is constantly regenerating. On average, you have an entirely new set of bones every 10 years.

Get Me That, Stat!

In a typical year, one to three Americans die from rabies, usually because the person bitten by a rabid animal did not receive or declined post-exposure treatment.

Mark Your Calendar

February is American Heart Month (though let's not forget the billions of beating organs elsewhere) and awareness month for age-related macular degeneration and teen dating violence.

Counts

One-third: fraction of online grocery items surveyed that contained mandated nutritional information

Source: New York University School of Global Public Health

Doc Talk

Onychocryptosis: ingrown toenail

Phobia of the Week

Enosiophobia or enissophobia: fear of having committed an unpardonable sin or of criticism. There is no word for the unpardonable sin of criticizing someone with one of these conditions.

Never Say 'Diet'

The Major League Eating record for shrimp cocktail is 18 pounds, 9.6 ounces in 8 minutes, held by Joey Chestnut, a professional eater who wins a lot of these contests by paying attention to de-tails.

Best Medicine

Q: Who is ultimately response for a child's well-being?

A: The answer should be apparent.

Observation

"There is one consolation in being sick; and that is the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before." — American naturalist Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Medical History

This week in 1995, Gottfried Schlaug and colleagues at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston presented research that suggested people with perfect pitch possessed an enlarged region in the left hemisphere of the brain called the planum temporale. But they said it was also necessary for a person to be exposed to music before age 10 to attain perfect pitch. Failing that, having an enlarged planum temporale does not of itself normally coincide with having perfect pitch later.

Ig Nobel Apprised

The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. A look at real science that's hard to take seriously and even harder to ignore.

In 2020, the Ig Nobel Prize in psychology went to a pair of Canadian researchers for their eyebrow-raising work into the eyebrows of narcissists. Specifically, they found that distinctive movements of self-important braggarts are reliable indicators of grandiose narcissism.

Forehead is forewarned, you might say.

Self-Exam

Q: On average, how many times per minute do your eyes blink?

a) 10

b) 20

c) 35

d) 50

A: b) 20, which works out to more than 10 million blinks per year.

Fit to Be Tried

There are thousands of exercises, and you've only got one body, but that doesn't mean you can't try them all: The chair squat strengthens your legs and core, making everyday movements easier. Start with a chair underneath you to master proper form. Stand in front of the chair with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointed slightly out. Hinging at your hips and bending your knees, lower back and down until your bottom touches the chair, with your arms extending out in front of you. Push up through your heels and return to the starting position. Repeat several times, adding reps with improving strength.

Curtain Calls

David Strohm Jr. loved to photograph sunsets. In 2017, the 28-year-old from Tustin, California, was found dead in a tree he had climbed to get a better angle. He had inadvertently touched a power cable running through the branches. Just moments before, he had posted his final sunset to his Facebook page.

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: thedanw at Pixabay